[Combray] by Marcel Proust is not a page-turner. Every sentence in the book is lengthy and contains long-winded details, and every scene is, in my perspective, descriptive as the protagonist tries to depict everything he feels in the moment. One explicit example is the sentence above. In the sentence, he is trying to describe the […]
A. Initial Thoughts My first read of Marcel Proust’s “Combray” was SO difficult. Initially, it seemed like a never-ending text of sleep and a madeleine soaked in tea. Proust starts by painting this scene where the protagonist experiences “the taste of the crumb of madeleine soaked in [his great aunt’s] decoction of lime-flowers…” (6), which … Continue reading Combray: Madelines and Memories (Jan 14)
“And in the same way, also, the thoughts of the dying are quite often turned toward the aspect of death that is real, painful, dark, visceral, toward the underside of death, which is in fact the side it presents to them and so harshly makes them feel, and which more closely resembles a crushing burden, […]
I really enjoyed reading this piece, and the more I read, the more immersed I was in the story. One thing that I want to note about the reading was how description-driven it was. If someone asked me what the plot was, it would be difficult to describe. I would probably say something about how […]
This week’s reading, Combray by Marcel Proust, definitely challenged me. The reading was a lot different than my usual weekly school readings. It was filled with intricate details and imaginative meanings but yet I still found it hard to pay attention. Just a few pages into the reading I found myself confused about the setting […]
Combray: Section 1 The novel opens with the narrator drifting in and out of consciousness, describing all the thoughts and memories that sneak into his mind as fatigue blurs out his rational thinking. The main story told was from his childhood, he recounted the days spent in his grandparents’ house where he was sent to […]
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, […]
Since this is my first blog, I’d like to share what I think are the highlights of my reading of Proust’s “Combray”. I’d like to focus on two broad aspects of my reading of the story: the writing style and the central theme of the novel. First of all, it is obvious that the story […]
Behind the Scenes I
I must say this course was a breath of fresh air (cliche, I know…). But for real, being able to guide ourselves through each week was nice. It wasn’t just sitting in a lecture hall with a professor talking at you and expecting you to retain all information imaginable for a test in a couple […]
