Yes, I know. This is exactly what you said would happen. I am going very, very slow - everything is a distraction from what I should be focusing on - Marcel, Marcel, Marcel. I just finished the Combray sections of Swann's Way - the tender walks down Guermantes Way and the Meseglise Way through space and time. The incident with Swann's beautiful daughter Gilberte has a certain resonance (for everyone?) which brings up all sorts of memories of how terrible and embarrassed one can feel when he's in love. Especially in youth (but not in youth too) when it's all so terribly awkward. (but do we know how young our narrator is? how old are these memories?? does anyone know?) . The narrator seems adept at spying - it almost seems more a literary tool so that the author can maintain the first person memories and still go into the third person omniscient. Could he really successfully spy on the Venteuils so well over so much time? I guess it's not so crazy - he has a spy's knack for remembering an insane number of details from long periods of time. It makes me wonder how Proust would have fared if he were in the espionage biz. hmmmm......
I am excited to begin the meat and potatoes of Swann's Way: Swann in Love. At this point I really hope it goes well for poor Swann - I could use that right now to get my back in to sorts.
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