Before I start with my thoughts on Marcel Proust’s Combray, I want to say that I only read part 1 and thus all my thoughts are regarding that part only. I mention this as my thoughts could be different if I read part 2.
Having said that, I enjoyed the part at the start which talks about how this novel was rejected by a lot of publishers, with one of the publishers saying “I don’t see why a man should take thirty pages to describe how he turns over in bed before going to sleep”. I agree with the opinion of this publisher as I believe that Proust goes too much into explaining every little detail of what is happening, which at least for me makes the reading a little confusing. But even though that happens, my main problem with this reading is that I was not that interested in what was happening. The story of how little kid is bothered by his mom not giving him a kiss simply did not interested me that much and I was more interested in Mr. Swan’s life or other things happening alongside the main story of the kid.
Because of this, I can’t say that I liked the reading of part 1 but I also did not dislike it. I believe that he keeps Mr. Swan as a quite mysterious person without going into much into detail about his marriage or other things about his life, which is the thing that made me not dislike reading. I saw the video lecture in which it is mentioned that in part 2 Proust goes more about Mr. Swan’s marriage and life, and that is why these thoughts of not enjoying the reading that much only regard part 1. I believe that if I read part 2 and it indeed went more about Mr. Swan’s life, I would enjoy it more.
One thing that did interest me from the main story is the reaction of the dad when he sees the narrator with his mom after he waited all night to see her. I feel like the whole story was hinting towards the dad getting mad at the kid for being awake and I liked the turn it took when the dad mentioned that he was not mad and rather told the mom to go sleep in the narrator’s room.
So my question for this blog is if you enjoyed part 1 reading and if so, why?
Hey,
To answer your question, I didn’t necessarily enjoy reading part 1, I do agree that the beginning felt very long and dragged out but obviously I feel that this was intentional. I think that Proust’s intentions when righting all the redundant details was to set up the obsessive and anxious thoughts of the narrator and potentially try and convey that feeling onto the reader?
Hi, and thanks for this. As I think I also said in the video lecture, in some ways the book only starts on page 48/49, specifically the last (longish) sentence on page 48. Why do you think Proust needs 45 pages (as Part I begins on page 3) to get to this point? What are the obstacles preventing “all of Combray and its surroundings” from “acquiring form and solidity” (48)?
Hello Pliego. Regarding your question, I did enjoy it but didint at the same time. The whole overall narrative was. beautifull and constructed in something that sounded like a poem as well. But at the same time the complexity made it hard to stablish a good reading pace which eventually decreased the level of enjoyment. I really liked your analysis and cant wait to read more.
-Montserrat Avendano
Hi! Personally, I also found that I didn’t really enjoy this reading. Between the long, densely packed sentences and how slow the plot seemed to be, it felt more of a chore to read. Great post! -Rebecca C