Friday 10 February 2012

Feb. 8 meeting

Time for another reading group update.  At this week's meeting, we discussed the second half of Swann in Love and a little bit about the last section of Swann's Way, Place-Names: The Name.  In particular, we talked about the influence of art and music on Proust, his use of synesthesia as a device, the peculiarities of Swann, the constant redefinitions and revisions of characters found throughout Swann in Love, and the painful identification with Swann that many of us felt (for better or worse).

As far as music goes, check out this blog entry about Vinteuil's sontata.  There's also this bit of information about the source of the sonata over at Temps Perdu.  Lastly, we talked about the chronology of the novel and how it does get confusing.  Have no fear as Temps Perdu also provides us with a rough chronology and some contextual thoughts.

The next meeting will be at the Strathcona Library on Wednesday, Feb. 22.  See you then!