Page; 279
Pages read since last post: 279
Books read since last post: 0
I finished Thubron (still good, though the earlier sections are best) on Friday and moved swiftly on to Proust. I must confess to finding this all quite fun and it looks like we discern (1,800 pages in) a plot. That said, the opening meditation is overly dense and complex, and boring by the end.
However, the most pretentious part of the book comes on the back cover, where the publisher states "The question 'does Albertine desire women rather than men?' is here treated as a philosophical topic of inexhaustible complexity.'" It's neither.
And, in my copy anyway, we appear to have lost the handsome coloured inner jacket notes. A sadness.
Sometime, late of an evening in March 2007, a regrettable decision was taken. As a consequence of this decision three friends, Dr Andrew Murray, Mr William Garrood (Member of Surrey CCC) and Dr Alexis Haynes would competitively read Marcel Proust's masterpiece A La Recherche du Temps Perdu. The aforementioned Proustanauts were later joined in their endeavour by Mr Elliot Smith, who, aided in part by a bout of pneumonia, promptly overtook them all. The saga continues...
4 comments:
Yes, I am similarly missing the liner notes. Hampered by the visit of a friend last weekend, I will decline the opportunity to quantify my meagre progress for you. I am enjoying it though, and plan to make decent headway this week. I can see you "winning" this volume by a country mile, however.
He's right, it does pick up after quite a dull beginning. No notes here, either. Perhaps we should invest in some crayons?
I must confess to finding it knocking along at a cracking pace (relatively) once that opening section is out of the way. I'm not sure crayons are the answer. Do later books have inside cover colour?
An excursion to Heffer's has revealed that the lovely liner notes, of which we are all so fond, are apparently absent from all copies of S&G and Time Regained. Proustanauts will be heartened to hear that they make a brief reappearance in Cap/Fug.
Additionally... uber-geeky point here... note how the portrait of M. Proust is in a significantly darker shade of pink on the spines of volumes 4 and 6. Inconsistency indeed.
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