Finishing The Guermantes Way: Thoughts So Far on Proust

It's always a good time for a vegan gluten-free donut

First things first, I adored this novel. 

In Search of Lost Time is the most fascinating study of human character that I've ever read.

I am NOT a literary critic, nor are any of my degrees in Literature, but as a lover of the classics, I have been truly enjoying myself while reading Proust.

I've mentioned before that I believe there is NO one way to read The Search. There is NO one way to read any of Proust.

The Search will reveal to you how it should be read. 

You may think, "I have time this weekend. I will read 6 hours of Proust on Saturday." Then, Saturday comes and you read for an hour and have the physically close the book and stare at the wall for another 45 minutes to process what just happened, or to deal with what the writing has conjured up within you.

Other times you may think, "I'll just spend an hour or so with Proust." Then, 4 hours later you emerge from the novel and feel like a completely different person.

Both approaches are VALID and valuable. I've experienced both.

If people spent half as much time actually reading or rereading Proust as they do telling others how to do it, it'd be a better bookish world. All jokes aside, I understand people's passion for Proust and their intense desire to share what has worked for them. It can come off as preachy and dictatorial, but I know it's mostly born of a fiery desire to get others to experience him.

I finished The Guermantes Way late last night and I closed the book and just sat there with my mouth agape. Marcel how dare you! 

I am not taking breaks (but for a few days) between the volumes, but I HAVE TO start Volume IV very very very soon. 

I am waiting with breath that is bated. My goodness Marcel. 

I really enjoyed The Guermantes Way. So far it's one of my favorites. Okay okay I've only read 3, but you get it. 

Thoughts on Proust so far:

1. He is hilarious. The amount of times that I have honestly laughed out loud through the 3 volumes that I've read so far, are more than I can count.
2. There is a real plot to this novel. People have said there isn't and you can't see the plot until you finish the last volume, I don't agree. You can sense plot in volume I. Perhaps I won't know exactly what Marcel is trying to say (I agree) until the novel is done, but there are real things happening to these very real people.
3. I don't need a schedule to read Proust. He dictates the speed with which I read certain parts of the novel. I love this. Being at his mercy so to speak (well, so to write).
4. Reading him feels like very akin to meditating. I sink deeply down into the work. So much so, every time I emerge from reading him for any extended length of time (45 minutes+) I have to stumble back into the world and remember my place in things.
5. I'll reread some or all of this novel repeated through my life. I know that I won't have that "beginner's eye" the next time, but that's okay. I'll be able to grasp things I may not be anchoring down right now and that's reason enough for me.
6. He's decadent. We talk about NOT holding books up against other works (just debated this yesterday with someone bookish) and I think that without comparing books, Prousts' work is in a league of its own. You can't help but stand before it in awe... to feel the sublime while reading it.
7. If Swann's Way is "boring" to you... perhaps this isn't the right time in your life for Proust. It's okay NOT to read him. I'm so glad that I waited until I was older. Until I'd really processed strife, pain, loss, grief, longing, long, despair, jealousy, loneliness... before diving into The Search.

I'm humbled by my experience so far with Proust. I've already been changing so much of how, when, and why I read, but Proust has catapulted that process to another level.

If a work is going to move and inspire me THIS much, why would I ever want to bite off works that don't nourish or feed my soul? 

Why would I want to "pass my time" with something that doesn't move me?

I mainly steer clear of the recently published and prize list stuff (with few exceptions), but at this time of year, I join others I know in reading a few holiday romance novels. I may do so this year as well, but they will be in far less quantity so that I can keep the big, meaty, intense books on my schedule forevermore.

I'm off to think about my life and start my day. 

I'm continuing on with Charlotte Brontë's Shirley and Bram Stoker's Dracula before picking up Volume IV of Proust.

Exciting times are head.

Happy reading my slow living friends.