Hey, everyone! I just want to let you know that there will be no meeting on August 8th as our meeting space at the Strathcona Library is being taken over by the Fringe Festival for the month of August.
We will meet on August 22nd, though, for a Proust movie night. We will watch Swann in Love at Brad's house, so please get in touch if you need his address. After that, we will be back to our regular meeting schedule at our regular meeting location. We just finished discussing Sodom and Gomorrah at the last meeting so continue on with volume five, The Captive. Or The Prisoner, depending on which translation you have.
See you later!
Wednesday, 1 August 2012
Wednesday, 18 July 2012
Interesting article
Hey, everyone! I came across this article at the Washington Post in honour of Proust's birthday on July 10th. It's a pretty amusing take on the self-congratulatory joys of reading Proust and made me laugh a bit.
Also, out next meeting will be on Wednesday, July 25th, at which time we'll wrap up discussion of Sodom and Gomorrah before possibly taking a break in August. We won't be meeting at the Strathcona Library in August, anyway, and will likely have a movie night in late August to watch the Jeremy Irons film, Swann in Love. It remains to be seen if we will meet in early August or take a well-deserved summer break. We'll decide at the next meeting and I'll be sure to post the news here.
Also, out next meeting will be on Wednesday, July 25th, at which time we'll wrap up discussion of Sodom and Gomorrah before possibly taking a break in August. We won't be meeting at the Strathcona Library in August, anyway, and will likely have a movie night in late August to watch the Jeremy Irons film, Swann in Love. It remains to be seen if we will meet in early August or take a well-deserved summer break. We'll decide at the next meeting and I'll be sure to post the news here.
Wednesday, 27 June 2012
June 27 meeting
Hey, everyone! Just another reminder that I won't be at tonight's meeting but please feel free to add any comments about the discussion from tonight's meeting or the previous meeting to this post. See you on July 11th!
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
May 30 meeting
Hello, everyone! Before I get to the May 30th meeting, there are some house-keeping items to take care of. We have our meeting room at the Strathcona branch of the Edmonton Public Library booked for the rest of the year with the exception of August. The meeting room will not be available for that entire month because of the Fringe Festival, which uses library space to mount performances. Therefore, we'll either have to take August off or come up with an alternate meeting place.
Second, I will not be able to attend the next two meetings (June 13 and June 27). There shouldn't be a problem with the meeting space, though. If there is, just explain to the library clerk that we have the space booked for the appropriate time but do not have a contract as the dates were sorted out and booked months in advance.
Ok, as for the meeting. We finished discussing The Guermantes Way, which is longest volume in the novel and thus took us forever to get through. The last section of the volume features a very long dinner party scene which is as exasperating to the narrator as perhaps it is to the reader. Once again, we see that all that glitters is not gold and that the world of the Faubourg Saint-Germain ultimately proves dissatisfying and facile to the narrator.
Other topics of discussion revolved around the masterful "red shoes" scene, in which Oriane and Basin downplay the news that Swann is dying so as not to be inconvenienced on their way to a party. For me, the final line in the volume is as devastating as the final line in the "Swann in Love" section of Swann's Way; is this an intentional parallel? Where once Swann was the heartless dismisser of another, now he is being dismissed?
Anyway, time to move on to Sodom and Gomorrah, which we will discuss the beginning of at the next meeting.
Second, I will not be able to attend the next two meetings (June 13 and June 27). There shouldn't be a problem with the meeting space, though. If there is, just explain to the library clerk that we have the space booked for the appropriate time but do not have a contract as the dates were sorted out and booked months in advance.
Ok, as for the meeting. We finished discussing The Guermantes Way, which is longest volume in the novel and thus took us forever to get through. The last section of the volume features a very long dinner party scene which is as exasperating to the narrator as perhaps it is to the reader. Once again, we see that all that glitters is not gold and that the world of the Faubourg Saint-Germain ultimately proves dissatisfying and facile to the narrator.
Other topics of discussion revolved around the masterful "red shoes" scene, in which Oriane and Basin downplay the news that Swann is dying so as not to be inconvenienced on their way to a party. For me, the final line in the volume is as devastating as the final line in the "Swann in Love" section of Swann's Way; is this an intentional parallel? Where once Swann was the heartless dismisser of another, now he is being dismissed?
Anyway, time to move on to Sodom and Gomorrah, which we will discuss the beginning of at the next meeting.
Thursday, 17 May 2012
May 16 meeting
Hey, everyone! I'm back on track with these blog updates (hopefully). What can I say? I am a poor blogger.
Anyway, last night's meeting covered a good chunk of The Guermantes Way. Topics ranged from the salon at Mme de Villeparisis's house through the death of the narrator's grandmother with a bit more from later in the book sprinkled in. Not everyone has finished the volume though, so we'll wrap up discussion of The Guermantes Way on May 30.
We spent a good deal of time talking about Proust's narrative choices and his propensity to sabotage his own narrative climaxes, or what would be highpoints in other novels. He often focuses on the mundane and completely brushes over major developments (with some exceptions). We discussed how this is a deliberate attempt to re-calibrate how the reader thinks of narrative structure and novels in general. One example of this is with the grandmother's death. The first chapter of section two actually starts off with a brief summary of coming events, which is the first time that that very 19th century device pops up. It's odd that it pops up then because it gives away the death of the grandmother, which is the sort of a plot point that might be used as a surprise in the hands of a different author. But it's as if Proust is deliberately undermining our expectations.
Beyond that, we discussed the narrator's realization that Charlus is not who he thought he was and perhaps might be rather unhinged, as his bizarre comments regarding the Bloch family show. We also talked about the masterful passage of the grandmother's death and what it says about social attitudes toward death.
Also, we talked about the La Pléiade edition of Proust, which is seen as the definitive version. La Pléiade is a series published by Gallimard that seeks to compile the complete works of major figures in French literature. The Pléiade edition of any particular work is seen to be the definitive version and often compiles annotations and criticism as well as the original texts. So there you go!
Anyway, last night's meeting covered a good chunk of The Guermantes Way. Topics ranged from the salon at Mme de Villeparisis's house through the death of the narrator's grandmother with a bit more from later in the book sprinkled in. Not everyone has finished the volume though, so we'll wrap up discussion of The Guermantes Way on May 30.
We spent a good deal of time talking about Proust's narrative choices and his propensity to sabotage his own narrative climaxes, or what would be highpoints in other novels. He often focuses on the mundane and completely brushes over major developments (with some exceptions). We discussed how this is a deliberate attempt to re-calibrate how the reader thinks of narrative structure and novels in general. One example of this is with the grandmother's death. The first chapter of section two actually starts off with a brief summary of coming events, which is the first time that that very 19th century device pops up. It's odd that it pops up then because it gives away the death of the grandmother, which is the sort of a plot point that might be used as a surprise in the hands of a different author. But it's as if Proust is deliberately undermining our expectations.
Beyond that, we discussed the narrator's realization that Charlus is not who he thought he was and perhaps might be rather unhinged, as his bizarre comments regarding the Bloch family show. We also talked about the masterful passage of the grandmother's death and what it says about social attitudes toward death.
Also, we talked about the La Pléiade edition of Proust, which is seen as the definitive version. La Pléiade is a series published by Gallimard that seeks to compile the complete works of major figures in French literature. The Pléiade edition of any particular work is seen to be the definitive version and often compiles annotations and criticism as well as the original texts. So there you go!
Monday, 14 May 2012
Falling behind!
I have been woefully inept at keeping this blog up to date, so my apologies! We will be having a meeting this Wednesday, though, and should be approximately 3/4 of the way through The Guermantes Way. I promise to post an update from this week's meeting. Hope to see you there!
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
April 4 meeting
At the meeting on the 4th, we finally finished up In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower. It was a long slog, but everyone enjoyed the second volume of the novel very much; it certainly did have a lot going on.
In our wrap-up of this volume, we discussed the differences between the first and second halves of Place-Names: The Place (such as the narrator's intense attachment to his grandmother and fleeting desire for passing girls and how that shifted to his infatuation for the little band and Elstir), the use of food as metaphor and descriptors (which becomes as prevalent as or even more than flowers), the narrator's ridiculous scheming to be introduced to the little band of girls, the narrator's meeting of Elstir and Elstir as the latest creative figure that mentors or influences the narrator (adding to Vinteuil, Berma, and Bergotte), the appearance of functionaries such as waiters and valets throughout the novel, and the narrator's deliberate attempts to find beauty in the unexplored or over-looked.
The next meeting will be on Wednesday, April 18 and we will focus on the first 150 or so pages of the third volume, The Guermantes Way.
In our wrap-up of this volume, we discussed the differences between the first and second halves of Place-Names: The Place (such as the narrator's intense attachment to his grandmother and fleeting desire for passing girls and how that shifted to his infatuation for the little band and Elstir), the use of food as metaphor and descriptors (which becomes as prevalent as or even more than flowers), the narrator's ridiculous scheming to be introduced to the little band of girls, the narrator's meeting of Elstir and Elstir as the latest creative figure that mentors or influences the narrator (adding to Vinteuil, Berma, and Bergotte), the appearance of functionaries such as waiters and valets throughout the novel, and the narrator's deliberate attempts to find beauty in the unexplored or over-looked.
The next meeting will be on Wednesday, April 18 and we will focus on the first 150 or so pages of the third volume, The Guermantes Way.
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