Hi everyone,
My immediate reaction post-Proust reading is that I’m confused but I think I understand the gist of it. Throughout the text, I found myself lost at many points and when I thought I was getting into a flow, I would realize I was completely misinterpreting or missing details. So I ended up circling back and re-reading sections quite a bit… I thought some of the wording and description was a bit lengthy and muddled, but a lot of this is probably due to my inexperience with this genre of literature. As I mentioned in my intro post, I’m more used to the straight-to-the-point and more grounded scientific or historical articles (which can also be wordy but in a less artistic way?) I’ve studied in previous classes.
Anyways, despite all this, I think I enjoyed the reading. I was really interested in the beginning where the narrator was describing his experience at Combray as a child wanting his mother’s affection and his father’s disapproval. The description of how important the ritual of just his mother’s goodnight kiss was and the lengths he was going to get this when M. Swann’s visit denied it is embedded in my mind. It reminded me of something that’s been mentioned in many of my classes and even at work: the significance of parental affection for childhood development and how such a small gesture can have such a profound impact on a child. The scene of him sobbing with his mother when she stays with him for the night instead of punishing him for staying up just for a kiss really struck me. When she begins to read to him, the text just laments on how beautiful and gentle her voice is, as well as how much care she takes in speaking… Wow! I found it sooo sweet. I think maybe I am just emotional or really appreciate themes about mothers and their children…
Moving on, I also found the way Proust connects memory, place, and emotion quite compelling, even if it was confusing to follow sometimes. I can really relate to the idea that certain rooms, smells, or foods (like the narrator’s madeleine cookie and tea) and can carry such emotional weight and bring us back to specific moments. It made me think about how a lot of our lives are shaped by seemingly unimportant details and associations.
In all, although I was, at times, a bit lost in the language, I found what I could understand visually stunning and absorbing. Hopefully reading the literature will get easier with more practice throughout the semester, but I’m so far enjoying it either way!
My question is how do you think the narrator’s lack of parental affection affected him and his emotions (especially around love/attachment) later in life? Also, how could this connect to research in real-world studies on childhood development?
Thank you for reading!
Lengthy and muddled, i agree! But i am also a literature neophyte so maybe it’s my inexperience.
I love your idea that rooms smells and foods bring us back to specific moments, that is a great observation and so true.
I also agree that some parts had me quite lost as well! But its all a process of learning and hopefully become easier for us.
Hi Miranda!
I am a little relieved to hear that I was not the only one to struggle with this reading. Like you, I found myself re-reading many sections. It was interesting to hear about how your familiarity with straight-to-the-point texts influenced your experience with Proust! Hopefully it becomes easier to understand the different texts as we go.
Jennifer
Hi Miranda! I agree, some parts were definitely a bit hard to follow, but the language was very beautiful at the same time. To answer your question I think that his lack of parental affection probably will impact him greatly and negatively so. I think it ties in a bit to the nature vs nurture theories, because while the narrator is already an anxious child (nature) his parents don’t help by barely giving him attention (nurture).
Hi Miranda! Good analysis, I agree with you that the narrator’s wait for his mother’s kiss is one of the sweetest scenes in the whole book.
For sure, I think that parental care is of the utmost importance for babies and children and probably it can be related in the novel. Good job! Please share these ideas on class, they will definitely be interesting to your classmates.
See you tomorrow,
Julián.
Hi Miranda! I totally agree with most of what you’ve said here. Definitely, felt lost as well initially and completey agree with how some things bring us back to a certain time. I also love how you’re tying this into understanding the influence on the child’s further development such an interesting take .
Hi Miranda! I know this is late but I completely agree with what you’ve said here. Your connection between the goodnight kiss and real-world ideas about parental affection felt really genuine. I also loved how you described being confused and emotionally moved at the same time; that tension honestly feels very Proust.