Upon the first reading of the text, I did find Proust’s book to be confusing to read at first. It took me a while to do a few rereads before getting a general understanding of what is going on since I found the prose to be quite complex.
Whenever I’m reading a work of fiction, I know that I want to be immersed in the world. I want the author to completely distract me from the reality of incoming deadlines from other classes and horrible weather for the next few weeks with the protagonist’s thoughts and actions as they interact with the world around them.
The protagonist of Marcel Proust’s “Combray” definitely understands that well, saying that the action of reading enables him to be “invisible” to the rest of the outside world within his garden – and discover “the secret of truth and beauty” where their appearance in books can be felt a lot stronger than in real life (p. 116).
But what exactly is the concept of “beauty?”
I’d like to say that beauty is a combination of qualities that is pleasing to the aesthetic senses, especially to the eyes.
Anything can be beautiful, and the mere sight of beauty can instantly steal your breath away.
It is exciting. Calming. Awe-inspiring. Even heartbreaking.
I believe that we find them beautiful because as human beings, we are capable of abstract thought. Finding things beautiful just because we do is a reward in itself.
The protagonist clearly does so in his fascination for art, as well as how he perceives characters in a book. Since characters in a book are a writer’s creation, their thoughts and feelings are much more condensed and easier to follow – especially when they are transcribed on paper. As a result, that could be why Marcel feels that he has learned more about people in books than in his personal environment.
And speaking of thoughts and feelings, it was also interesting to note that Marcel tends to read the same way I do: by trying to understand the mindset of the characters. I do have a tendency to apply psychological theories (especially Freud’s theories of psychoanalysis) to the text to try to figure out any issues within them (with an example being his aunt Léonie’s case of illness anxiety disorder when her husband died).
Whenever you are given a new piece of literature, what is the first thing you do when trying to read the text or understanding the messages the author may have implied within it? Do you try to get into the mindset of the character? To immerse yourself in the environmental surroundings of the character? Has it helped you understand the text better? Why do you think that is the case?
7 Comments
Hello Arella,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this piece of work. Indeed, the unorganized writing style does make a lot of confusion. But, to me, this also corresponds to the half-asleep, half-awake state of mind that Proust is trying to create in the narrator.It also sounds like a very innovative way to write by reflecting on the unprocessed issues of memory through fragmented pieces of memory.
Also, I think that whether or not a person can empathize with and understand literature is still more dependent on each person’s own experience. I’ve heard a phrase said that education has a lag, what you can’t empathize with and wonder about today will be perfectly answered at some point in the future by letting you experience it, and education will close the loop at that point.Proust’s writing seems to me to be very subjective, and he portrays the narrator’s personal journey in a very clear and detailed way, but that doesn’t mean that we can always fully interpret it. So don’t overthink it, maybe we’ll be like the narrator one day in the future, remembering bits and pieces of this book, isn’t this an empathy? LOL!
Arella, thanks for your comment! Applying psychology theory to literary texts is actually a common practice in literary criticism :), we also all input a little bit of our perspective into what we read -it’s great that you notice it!
Your entry also reminded me of the when the narrator is negotiating what characters mean to him. He argues that “a real human being, however profoundly we sympathize with him, is in large part perceived by our senses, that is to say, remains opaque to us,” (86). In terms of connecting the psychology to character development, its interesting to see his later thought that writers’ “happy discovery was to have the idea of replacing these parts, impenetrable to the soul, by an equal quantity of immaterial parts, that is to say, parts which our soul can assimilate, (86).
Thanks for your entry!
Hello Arella,
Thanks for sharing your perspective on this! I can relate to re-reading the literature due to confusion, especially since his sentences were often so long that I had to remind myself what he was talking about in the first place. It was interesting to hear your description of beauty, especially the “heartbreaking” part. As for your questions, I always try to read the whole thing through while highlighting important parts before coming to a conclusion about the message that the author is trying to convey. Oftentimes, I find that there are unanticipated twists and turns in the plot that will only reveal the true message of the reading in the end. Therefore, I will finish the piece of literature first before putting it down and reflecting on the message or experience that the author wanted the readers to understand. For this piece of literature, the narrator was writing in first-person, so I will try to immerse myself in his mindset to fully experience his story. It was pretty difficult, as he was a male in the early 1900s living in a completely different country, but it allowed me to think about life from a different mindset in a different timeline.
Hi Arella. I totally agree that finding beauty in things is a reward in itself. When I first get a piece of literature I do immerse myself into the mindset of the main character. It does help me understand the text better because I can see it from the characters point of view. I better understand the characters motivation and actions as a result.
Dear Arella,
Your review is very well-written. Your reflection on the concept of beauty really made me question my own thoughts about it. I found it interesting this connection you found with the narrator–he exists with a fascination to understand the people around him, and it’s a quality that I believe many should have. Keep up the good work!
Hi Arella! When I was reading the book, I totally thought about Freud to, but in terms of Marcel and his mom. To answer your question, when I read texts and try to understand the message, I do try to get into the mindset of the character. For this book, I tried to understand Marcel’s home life and why he may be feeling so anxious at night, which helped me understand his family relationship a bit better and his strong memories tied to Combray.
Hi Arella, thanks for sharing! I found your mini psychoanalysis of the characters to be relatable– I often find myself doing this when reading or consuming stories. The first thing I do when trying to get into a new piece of literature it to really understand my character and setting. I try to envision the scene exactly as I read it, and follow along the story in real time within my mind.