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Proust's "Combray" section of In Search of Lost Time, and the book as a whole deals heavily with memory and time, and I was particularily drawn to few passages which explore this theme.

"When a man is asleep, he has in a circle round him the chain of the hours, the sequence of the years, the order of the heavenly bodies..."

In some senses time is a construct invented by conscious humans. Here, Proust explores this idea, especially in our unconscious state, focusing on the timelessness of sleep, and the lack of a temporal reality when we are asleep. He continues the passage to focus on our need to cement ourselves when we wake and discover exactly where we are in time. I think that this can be expanded beyond the idea of time, and zeroes in on the human need to define and delineate life, where uncertainty, whether it be temporal confusion or other, is rejected in favour of defining our circumstance.

"That hateful staircase, up which I always went so sadly, gave out a smell of varnish which had, as it were, absorbed and crystallised the special quality of sorrow that I felt each evening..."

Here, Proust analyzes the permanence of objects amidst a shifting temporal landscape. Every night, the staircase is the same, and "absorbs" his nightly sorrow as he is sent to bed. As time changes, the staircase stays permanent, but it's symbolism increases, as a mountain of sad memories are built into it's existence. 

"...to think merely of the worries of today and my hopes for tomorrow..."

This passage was interesting to me because it related to an idea in another novel I'm currently reading: The Almanack of Naval Ravikant. Ravikant believes that any future ambition or desire is a stressor, and that the act of desire causes worries in the present. Proust is touching on a similar idea in this sentence, contrasting emotions by their temporal placement, present worry and future hopes. Ultimately, these two emotions are paired, and only divided by time--as any ambition for the future is the cause of an immediate stress to satisfy this desire.

Questions

1. Is time and it's measurements as accurate as we believe it to be, or can we define spaces and moments in different and creative ways to understand our memories better as humans?

2. If our memories deceive us, would we rather have an unbiased view of our past, or is the natural way which we view ourselves protective of our mental stability?

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Proust's "Combray" section of In Search of Lost Time, and the book as a whole deals heavily with memory and time, and I was particularily drawn to few passages which explore this theme.

"When a man is asleep, he has in a circle round him the chain of the hours, the sequence of the years, the order of the heavenly bodies..."

In some senses time is a construct invented by conscious humans. Here, Proust explores this idea, especially in our unconscious state, focusing on the timelessness of sleep, and the lack of a temporal reality when we are asleep. He continues the passage to focus on our need to cement ourselves when we wake and discover exactly where we are in time. I think that this can be expanded beyond the idea of time, and zeroes in on the human need to define and delineate life, where uncertainty, whether it be temporal confusion or other, is rejected in favour of defining our circumstance.

"That hateful staircase, up which I always went so sadly, gave out a smell of varnish which had, as it were, absorbed and crystallised the special quality of sorrow that I felt each evening..."

Here, Proust analyzes the permanence of objects amidst a shifting temporal landscape. Every night, the staircase is the same, and "absorbs" his nightly sorrow as he is sent to bed. As time changes, the staircase stays permanent, but it's symbolism increases, as a mountain of sad memories are built into it's existence. 

"...to think merely of the worries of today and my hopes for tomorrow..."

This passage was interesting to me because it related to an idea in another novel I'm currently reading: The Almanack of Naval Ravikant. Ravikant believes that any future ambition or desire is a stressor, and that the act of desire causes worries in the present. Proust is touching on a similar idea in this sentence, contrasting emotions by their temporal placement, present worry and future hopes. Ultimately, these two emotions are paired, and only divided by time--as any ambition for the future is the cause of an immediate stress to satisfy this desire.

Questions

1. Is time and it's measurements as accurate as we believe it to be, or can we define spaces and moments in different and creative ways to understand our memories better as humans?

2. If our memories deceive us, would we rather have an unbiased view of our past, or is the natural way which we view ourselves protective of our mental stability?

read full post >>

I have mixed feelings concerning Proust’s Swann’s Way. His writing is undoubtedly beautiful, though perhaps tiresome at times and undeniably saddening. For the first part of the text he seems to be reflecting on moments in time he’s experienced in a melancholic sense, as though he views his life as a tragedy; a collection of […] read full post >>

If you came here looking for a straightforward answer, then I’m afraid that is certainly not what you’ll find here... read full post >>

 I noticed that in "Combray" by Marcel Proust there is a lot of descriptive language used. This leads me to the find the text a bit confusing and hard to read. For the first few pages it was very difficult for me to piece together a storyline or just to figure out what was happening in general. The text seemed to show a lot of very deep thinking and perspective from the narrator when it comes to life and the other people that are in his life and family. The way that the narrator speaks about relying on a goodnight kiss from his mother in order to calm his anxiety so that he can sleep seems like something that is extremely important to him and something that he can not go without. The narrator seems to be very reliant on his mother and not being able to receive a goodnight kiss from his mother will cause his anxiety to rise and he would not be able to sleep. The attention to detail and the focus on the need for the attention from his mother shows that he may be struggling with a separation anxiety from her or potentially other mental health issues or disorders. 

My question is: "What do we think may have led to the narrator's need to be strongly connected to his mother?

Another thing in the text that has led me to be confused, is when the narrator believes that his father would be mad at him for wanting this attention or love from his mother. This leads me to question whether the father would be upset at the narrator due to being too old to be needing his mother or if it is something based on gender. The father might think that because he is a male he needs to toughen up and not act upset or show emotions. The narrator is also very informed on the way the other family members act towards and think about M. Swann. He notices their infatuation with him and how he is a known person in society. The narrator sees the way that his family members had prepared for their meal with M. Swann. He noticed how they put a lot of a care into how they acted around him and how they talked about him and questioned if they were polite enough after M. Swann had left their home. This shows that M. Swann holds significance to the family as well as the narrator. I am confused on how this relates to the narrator and his situation. I am led to thinking that this impacts the narrator in a way that makes hm feel insecure of attention from his family members, predominantly his mother. 

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 I noticed that in "Combray" by Marcel Proust there is a lot of descriptive language used. This leads me to the find the text a bit confusing and hard to read. For the first few pages it was very difficult for me to piece together a storyline or just to figure out what was happening in general. The text seemed to show a lot of very deep thinking and perspective from the narrator when it comes to life and the other people that are in his life and family. The way that the narrator speaks about relying on a goodnight kiss from his mother in order to calm his anxiety so that he can sleep seems like something that is extremely important to him and something that he can not go without. The narrator seems to be very reliant on his mother and not being able to receive a goodnight kiss from his mother will cause his anxiety to rise and he would not be able to sleep. The attention to detail and the focus on the need for the attention from his mother shows that he may be struggling with a separation anxiety from her or potentially other mental health issues or disorders. 

My question is: "What do we think may have led to the narrator's need to be strongly connected to his mother?

Another thing in the text that has led me to be confused, is when the narrator believes that his father would be mad at him for wanting this attention or love from his mother. This leads me to question whether the father would be upset at the narrator due to being too old to be needing his mother or if it is something based on gender. The father might think that because he is a male he needs to toughen up and not act upset or show emotions. The narrator is also very informed on the way the other family members act towards and think about M. Swann. He notices their infatuation with him and how he is a known person in society. The narrator sees the way that his family members had prepared for their meal with M. Swann. He noticed how they put a lot of a care into how they acted around him and how they talked about him and questioned if they were polite enough after M. Swann had left their home. This shows that M. Swann holds significance to the family as well as the narrator. I am confused on how this relates to the narrator and his situation. I am led to thinking that this impacts the narrator in a way that makes hm feel insecure of attention from his family members, predominantly his mother. 

read full post >>

Proust’s novel “Swann’s Way” was a bit difficult to follow at first. Though I was able to pick up on a few main themes through the first and second sections, I often found myself lost in the text – and not in the form of fantasizing or escapism, but rather in confusion. I felt like […] read full post >>

As much as I would’ve loved to have completed this reading for my blog post, I found myself runnings out of time with some other things that were going on :\ I haven’t finished Combray yet (I plan to by Thursday’s class to discuss), however, I have read enough to get a gist of Proust […] read full post >>

Part one of Combray was really engaging and got me really invested in the mind and history of the protagonist.  His descriptions and explanations of what goes on during the sleep process are very spot on, and I can relate with some of them for sure. I always find myself reminiscing over the past,  and […] read full post >>

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 […] read full post >>