These posts are (not so) quickly becoming a lesson in how not to read a foreign language.
I last posted about my Proust journey in April 2015...and have advanced no further since. Not a single page. Its pretty embarrassing really.
enjoying a flat white at my favourite coffee shop - a treat for my troubles!
I could reel off a whole bunch of excuses for my lack of progress, but why would I do that when I could jump straight back in to telling you about the magical world of Proust instead! I've read a whole extra 20 pages now!!!
It is pretty hard going, but I feel like I'm making some progress and getting to know the characters finally. Of course, I've been following my own advice from my last post also. I treated myself to a flat white at my favourite coffee shop, then later enjoyed sampling a new variety of loose-leaf tea, put on some classical piano music to suit the tone of the story and lit my new favourite candle. Little things.
After all, it would be impractical to book oneself a trip to Disney Land as reward for getting through just a few pages, tough as they may be.
...maybe by the end!
...you may also notice the lack of dictionary! Give the girl a gold star! I'm still learning new vocabulary though. I just noted new words down quickly along with the page number. That way I can still revisit to retrieve the context.
Keeping a note to check back the context is important though. On a page describing smells (yes, a whole page! - Thanks Proust!) I came across a verb that, when I looked it up, seemed at first glance to have an awful lot to do with the use of a dildo (below, for your viewing pleasure).
I also remembered to make an effort to engage with the story. In this instance this involved reading outloud (in non-public places) to keep my focus, making notes (as amusing and irreverent as I could manage) and taking the time to write this blog (hi!). All to consolidate my learning.
Keeping a note to check back the context is important though. On a page describing smells (yes, a whole page! - Thanks Proust!) I came across a verb that, when I looked it up, seemed at first glance to have an awful lot to do with the use of a dildo (below, for your viewing pleasure).
So...consolidation ahoy! Here are a few things that I took from these 20 pages.
Character - Grandmother
Granny is the original hipster!
She actively rejects anything that does not have enough layers of the intellectual about it. A few examples:
- She thinks that simple reads are as useless and dangerous as sweets.
- She prefers old items, as she feels their disrepair makes them more useful (as items that can be learnt from).
- She will only accept photographs if they demonstrate something historic, such as a monument. Otherwise they are vulgar. She'd prefer a painting - even an inaccurate one - of a landscape to a photograph of one, as artistic expression at least adds an extra dimension to appreciate.
my notes. There was also a whole page for loose-leaf tea!
Character - Protagonist
Well...he's still a grumpy sod! Every adjective relating to his emotions denotes some form of sadness.
In these pages he discovered that he likes tea and madeleines. The problem is that after three mouthfuls he finds that he can't match the euphoria of that first taste explosion, and is bitterly disappointed.
Upon reflection (which he does - a LOT!), he believes that what he enjoyed was not even the taste, but the association: His Great Aunt had offered him a madeleine earlier that morning, so the experience held souvenirs of her, and by extension his house, his town, and - I imagine - the country, planet and universe.
remember to keep notes irreverent - rewording them and adding humour will help you to consolidate the text's meaning
Character - Great Aunt
Oh boy is this one doolally. She will only speak softly because she's afraid that speaking loudly will break or displace something in her head.
She also likes to pretend not to sleep - at all - but has to constantly remind herself to run with this lie, and does so out-loud when she believes that no-one is listening.
Well...he's still a grumpy sod! Every adjective relating to his emotions denotes some form of sadness.
In these pages he discovered that he likes tea and madeleines. The problem is that after three mouthfuls he finds that he can't match the euphoria of that first taste explosion, and is bitterly disappointed.
Upon reflection (which he does - a LOT!), he believes that what he enjoyed was not even the taste, but the association: His Great Aunt had offered him a madeleine earlier that morning, so the experience held souvenirs of her, and by extension his house, his town, and - I imagine - the country, planet and universe.
remember to keep notes irreverent - rewording them and adding humour will help you to consolidate the text's meaning
Character - Great Aunt
Oh boy is this one doolally. She will only speak softly because she's afraid that speaking loudly will break or displace something in her head.
She also likes to pretend not to sleep - at all - but has to constantly remind herself to run with this lie, and does so out-loud when she believes that no-one is listening.
Imagery
I encountered some beautiful imagery on this reading. Below are a few of my favourites relating to a moment where the protagonist feels that his sadness is finally accepted by his family, rather than fought against:
"puberty of sadness"
"emancipation of tears"
He describes that this has the effect on his mother of making the "first wrinkles and first white hairs appear on her soul".
He also speaks of his world being "painted in different colours" then, to how it is now.
He also speaks of his world being "painted in different colours" then, to how it is now.
Vocabulary
...all hugely positive and life-affirming:
...all hugely positive and life-affirming:
un bourreau - persecutor, torturer
immérité - undeserved, unmerited
un serin - dimwit
mesquin - petty, mean, miserly
dodu - plump, podgy, chubby
remâcher - to brood, to dwell
dévot - bigoted, sanctimonious, pious
un casanier - homebody
remâcher - to brood, to dwell
dévot - bigoted, sanctimonious, pious
un casanier - homebody
