Proust, Jenga, and a baleful smear.

Mar 01, 2011 19:49


So have a look at this catchy sentence, which Proust uses to open the second volume of his novel sequence.

My mother, when it was a question of our having M. de Norpois to dinner for the first time, having expressed her regret that Professor Cottard was away from home and that she herself had quite ceased to see anything of Swann, since either of ( Read more... )

wearing the old coat, writers, language

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norabird March 5 2011, 23:51:58 UTC
interesting. i still cannot quite grasp at the proust sentence, and yet i love proust's style more than james's; i very much like portrait of a lady, but reading wings of a dove, though worth it, is a fight against myself--the way he constructs things is too opaque for my taste, too around the bend in a stylistic way. that is, i don't feel it's how one thinks. whereas proust i think follows the natural bend of thought, which does not always go straight or end up in the expected place. mind i can sometimes only do a few pages of proust at a time, and i have to either untangle the sentences and paragraphs or else let go of knowing quite what the subject of a sentence is; but they're so rich and immediate and close to life, where to me james is distant and cloudy. proust is my favorite writer of all i think, though he's hard. (i've read up to book four in remembrance of things past).

have you read dfw? infinite jest reminds me sometimes of proust--so tough but so immediate. only the one is defined by its frenchness and the other by its americanness. i'd be interested to hear what you think of his syntax...

also i have to confess how terribly often i let go of really attentive reading and allow myself to let a thorny section escape me.

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wwidsith March 24 2011, 15:46:31 UTC
Haven't read DFW yet, actually the only thing of his I've read is a long essay about grammar peeves which infuriated me, but I'm sure he's better in fiction.

I keep meaning to tell you how much I love your journal recently, I really must comment there more often - I'm a real sucker for melancholy reflections on life and love and music and you are good with that material!

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norabird March 24 2011, 23:26:51 UTC
Infinite jest is, on a routine basis, so good you almost have to laugh.

Also, thank you! Your entries are always such full formed, interesting commentaries, whereas I have this unedited running commentary which I sometimes wish I took more care with presenting sensibly, so that's very nice to hear.

Waiting to hear more about Libya from you, by the way! Though it's probably hard to frame.

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