Im sure you can tell from the title that much like the other people in this course, I did not enjoy the writing style of this book. But before I jump into ranting about it, I’ll talk about some more interesting aspects of the book first.
The flow and focus of this books features a sort of choppy consciousness – like you’re reaching back into the depths of your memory and just recalling whatever you can that relates to one another, which often times don’t necessarily connect that well. I think that really contributes to the confusion of this book because there seems to be holes in between the sentences, contexts, and stories. So as a reader on my end, I’m trying to scour the pages to try to piece things together and read on the sentences to see if things will come together, yet it doesn’t. But that seems to be intentional in some ways maybe?. Also, it features windows as a symbol- reading this book did feel like I was glancing into the window of someones house and it reminds me of the reality that this is someone else’s story being retold for their own purposes, so the world and the bounds of it are dictated by them only, not necessarily meant for others to easily understand. Which also connects to my next point.
A lot of the times, I feel that reading is sort of like an interaction between writer and reader, somewhat like a dance (it takes two to tango etc. etc. etc.) like maybe a children’s book will be more direct and guiding along so on the authors part they design their writing to be more rooted in the audiences perspective. Somewhat like you’re being taught to dance and held by the hand to see the world through the authors eyes and stories. For this book, it felt like instead of the usual duet, it’s instead the author’s solo performance and I’m just there to watch. I think that process is unusual and does challenge our activeness and perspectives on what it means to be a reader.
And that then leads me to my next point and I guess my dissatisfaction with the book. When reading a book I think I seek to empathize. I want to see the perspective of a character that isn’t me, know what’s going on about them or what they think about things. I also held this expectation for this book, but for some reason this book just didn’t really connect with me. It could be that I just don’t care about the ramblings of a little rich boy but I think it’s more than that- I can’t discern the relevancy (in the sense of the purpose of what he means to convey) from his sentences and that could just be a fault of mine.
To end with a question, why do you think people write, or what is the purpose of writing a novel/book? What do you think Proust’s view was?
Very good metaphor, Kelly! Proust is an author who likes to dance in his prose, to go from one place to another, to bring us back and make us a little dizzy… but above all he loves dancing with himself. His “solo performance” is overwhelming, I’m not going to deny it. Beyond the dissatisfaction, what would you take away from this reading?
Hi Kelly! I loved your blog post and pretty much agreed with everything you said. The idea that as readers we were glancing through a window into the narrator’s house was a very interesting take. With that perspective in mind, I could appreciate the writing style a little more but still not enough to like the book. As for answering your question, I don’t think I can provide a clear answer cause it is a complex question. To answer part of it, I like to think that people write because they have such complex and beautiful thoughts that they don’t know how to express in words. For many writing is an outlet to let out your inner thoughts, and maybe that’s what the author was doing, he was expressing a part of his childhood memories through a different perspective.
Hi Kelly, your post is very well written and you provide an insightful perspective on how you feel about the reading. I like the way you describe it as the book featuring a choppy consciousness and reaching for memories. I also agree that this type of writing was not my cup of tea. Your take on this writing being the author’s solo performance is definitely unique, and possibly the intent behind the usage of this style in writing.
Hi Kelly, it’s really interesting to see what other people have to say about Combray. I think that people write to express their thoughts or feelings and to express them not only for themselves in the moment of writing but for all readers who see it after. For Proust I think his way of writing allowed him to create art from the imagery and ideas he had for different characters, despite the events of the story being normal unspectacular.