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Remembrance of Things Past Volume One (Revised)
Remembrance of Things Past Volume One (Revised) | Marcel Proust
Translated from the French by C.K. Scott Moncrieff. With an Introduction by Ingrid Wassenaar. Marcel Proust (1871-1922) spent the last fourteen years of his life writing A la recherche du temps perdu. It is an intimate epic, an excavation of the self, and a comedy of manners by turns and all at once. Proust is the twentieth century's Dante, presenting us with a unique, unsettling picture of ourselves as jealous lovers and unmitigated snobs, frittering our lives away, with only the hope of art as a possible salvation. He offers us a form of redemption for a sober and secular age. Scott Moncrieff's delightful translation was for many years the only access to Proust in English. A labour of love that took him nearly as many years as Proust spent writing the original. Moncrieff's translation strives to capture the extraordinary blend of muscular analysis with poetic reverie that typifies Proust's style. It remains a justly famous classic of translation.
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Hamlet
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Pickpick

Although there are newer translations with a more accurate title in English, I heard that this Moncrieff & Kilmartin first translation makes up for any liberties in English wording with lovely, flowing prose. It worked for me. I very much enjoyed this monster of a first volume, more than I had anticipated. The famous scene of the madeleine soaked in tea provoking unrealized memories led to intimacies and beauty. (Continued in the comments.)

Hamlet (Continued review #1) The language was flowing and wonderful to behold. Yes, sentences can go on for much of a page, but they‘re easy and enjoyable to follow… if you keep track of the subject way back at the start of the sentence. It all starts with the detailed emotional life of a young boy before switching to his family, Monsieur Swann and his quest after a woman, and much more. Proust lays out the minutiae of French life toward the end of …. 3y
Hamlet (Continued review #2) … the 19th century, and his understanding is vivacious and personally generous, even as he lays out insightful social satire and critique. I was startled by how funny Proust can be; I hadn‘t expected that for some reason. Let me just say that it was a pleasure to read the first volume of this longest-of-all novels. I will start Volume Two when the warm weather comes, I think. This hoariest of old, long classics is a treasure. 3y
BarbaraBB Well done! You‘ll love when he travels up the French coast- also when the warm weather comes! 3y
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CindiB
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Want to just note that today I started Proust‘s Remembrance of Times Past. Noting this as my reference as to when I started and how long this will take. Not that that matters, but more out of interest. Already I am finding I need to go back and re-read sentences because my mind wandered. Given that and over 4,200 pages, this could take awhile. But reading this has been a longtime goal. And I am pleased to start. 💕📚

Butterfinger Good luck! 4y
Suet624 Yikes! Good luck! 4y
Simona Nice❣️His prose is superb, but he definitely demands attention 😘 4y
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plemmdog
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What would Proust say?

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AMVP
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#anditsaugust #day19 - #challenge

Finally got all of the R.o.T.P. Vintage editions. Plan on making the reading of them into another stream.

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GoneFishing

No doubt very few people understand the purely subjective nature of the phenomenon that we call love, or how it creates, so to speak, a supplementary person, distinct from the person whom the world knows by the same name, a person most of whose constituent elements are derived from ourselves.

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Hobbinol
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"...a library is still the best place in which to ponder the dream of life." I love this photo of the old Cincinnati Public Library which now exists only in Internet photos (and my imagination, of course). #somethingforseptember #septphotochallenge

TheLondonBookworm 😦😮 that is so beautiful 8y
shawnmooney This is my idea of heaven! 8y
marixa Wow 8y
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LeahBergen 😍😍 8y
ValerieAndBooks Amazing!! 8y
MrBook Hey! My place 😂. 8y
DivineDiana I love it too. 8y
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Eyelit
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I think I can count the three volume set of Proust's Remembrance of Things Past as #mybiggestbook right? It's over 3,000 pages all together and it took me an entire year to read. Fun times. 😆

Mayread That is a mountain I've yet to climb. Even the thought of madeleines...😱 8y
shawnmooney I got at least three quarters of the way through the translation that came out about a dozen years ago – Lydia Davis was one of the translators – and while I enjoyed the writing, the psychological dynamics between the characters late in the series made me sick to my stomach (a slight exaggeration, but only a slight one…) so I gave up. 8y
Sue My biggest book as well :) I just love it though. 8y
Simona @Eyelit I was very passionate about Proust end his books in my late teens years. 8y
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