There’s one common thread in existing discussion about “Combray” that I saw: the book’s difficulty in reading. I agree, it’s a challenging read in the forever long sentences and vivid descriptions of everything and constantly shifting focal points. And as the lecture and conversation video mentions, the story is temporally vague. While there is […]
I would like to share my feelings after
reading Combray! I found it hard to read. It is like I know
most of the words, but when words come together, I could not
understand them anymore. As Professor Beasley-Murray mentions in the lecture…
Sorry if the cuts are bad, the first second of each clip was cut for some reason. It will be better next time.
My question: What does the “in-betweenness” add to the story and reading of the text?
-LS
To be honest, what I got out of reading Proust was immense, incredibly detailed and vivid descriptions of the sort of scene Proust wants us to imagine. This book was particularly challenging for me. I could hardly understand what I was reading in…
At last, I have finished Marcel Proust’s Combray. Forty-nine pages felt like a lifetime, and I attribute this to there being sentences that went on for longer than this blog post. Apparently, using periods wasn’t common practice in early 20th century France and semicolons were all the rage. I did enjoy it though I think, […]
Getting into the flow of this book was difficult. I struggled with understanding the metaphors that were being used to describe the quality of his sleep. However, as this scene proceeded, I found myself empathizing. The interrupted sleep, the nightmare that was his great-uncle pulling his curls, this was all relatable on some level –though […]
To start off, I think “Combray” was an excellent choice for our first text in this course. At the beginning, I was utterly confused and lost. Yet, the story seemed somewhat familiar due to its use of sleep and childhood. It does a beautiful job at inviting readers with an experience they most likely have […]
Marcel Proust, “Combray”
A conversation with Farid Laroussi
It feels like just yesterday we were discussing Proust and madeleines… Funnily enough, the first volume of In Search of Lost Time was actually my favorite text we read during this class. I loved how immersive the prose was. The entire text had a dreamlike feel, reminding me strongly of what it was like toContinue reading “My Final Post :(“
