Song of the week: Les Champs-Élysées – Joe Dassin
Where do I begin? This was a difficult read, not just because it was our first book of the semester, but also due to Proust’s looooong sentences. I really wanted to like this book, and maybe I would have if I had read the entire thing for leisure, but it seemed to consist of endless ramblings and many side characters that we never got to hear from, just hear about. At first, I was reading too thoroughly, trying to make connections and analyze every line for possible hidden meanings, which was impossible because there was so much information packed into a single sentence. Once I started reading just to comprehend the storyline, it became easier but not overly enjoyable.
It did make sense that the narrator mentions their fondness for Bergotte’s books and the venting in those, even expressing that he was “disappointed when he resumed the thread of his narrative”, which is a sentiment I do not share when it comes to “Combray”. Yes, the narrator’s internal monologue is the means through which we, as readers, come to learn much about the characters of the book, but it also seemed overly detailed, which made it too boring, and to paraphrase one of our classmates put it: “I couldn’t wait for each sentence to end” (I’m sorry I can’t find the OG blog post but I 100 percent agree with it). I felt like I needed to create a family tree just to keep up with all the people who were mentioned and many of whom, never made an appearance (some were also never named, such as the “pregnant servant” who was roasted for her growing body). As mentioned in the conversation video, there are no mentions of the time period, which made it difficult to ascertain when each encounter is taking place. Between Easter weekends and summers in Balbec, I never fully understood what point in time the narrator was describing, which just made me become lost in his ramblings.
Despite my negative comments above, there were parts of this book that were interesting to me (like Françoise’s vicious encounter with a chicken — RIP) as they revealed more about the people close to the narrator, but were still limited to his point of view and only revealed what he could observe. I will say that my title may be a bit harsh as I did enjoy the funny comments in this book, but it really just left me confused and suffering from a migraine at the end of it. I believe the countless mentions of different flora and aromas have meaning, but they may not be appropriately mentioned until the other parts of this book which is disappointing. With the countless details in this book, I wonder what is the purpose of bringing them up once in extreme detail just to never mention them again? How are the pregnant servant and her child? Were these kinds of details mentioned as a way to signify the narrator’s wandering thoughts or to keep readers engaged and looking for hidden messages?
This is where I will leave you all as I want to save some of my comments for tomorrow’s discussion! Bye!!!
4 Comments
Add Yours →“Were these kinds of details mentioned as a way to signify the narrator’s wandering thoughts or to keep readers engaged and looking for hidden messages?” It’s a question worth pondering. But perhaps not everything in literary works has a hidden message, or at least, as McLuhan says, the medium itself can be the message.
Hi Kim,
I agree, the constant mentions of scents have meaning! Because this story is so intertwined with memory, Proust seems to deeply emphasise sensory detail (which I personally expect from a novel). Fun fact I learned in my psych classes: when you experience the world, all of the sensory information you absorb (sound, taste, etc.) goes through certain pathways in your brain to be processed and experienced; all of the senses, EXCEPT smell! Scent goes directly to your amygdala the emotional processing center of your brain, bypassing the processing pathways. This is a reason why some smells are so strongly associated with memory, and I think Proust discussing scent in his memories does not only make readers immersed in the story, but also emphasizes how scent can play a role in memory.
Hi Kim! This book does need a family tree. That is actually a really good idea that I’ll use for future books. Something like a family tree or a character sheet. There were definitely parts of the book that were interesting. I found the part where the narrator makes the note it get his mother upstairs to be interesting even though it was among the goodnight kiss pages, which were weird.
‘La Rue De Boring’ is a hilarious (and accurate) title. I’m with you on the pregnant servant, too; it’s frustrating how he drops these vivid details and then just moves on!