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Welcome to the start of our 2025 year-long buddy read of Proust's In Search of Lost Time. We'll be meandering through the six volumes at roughly half a volume per month.

January and February 2025 will be volume 1: The Way by Swann's:

January: Part one - Combray
February: Parts two and three: A love of Swann's/Swann in love, and Place names: the name.

Feel free to read any of the main English translations or the French original: we've had some pre-read discussions about the various translations and other Proustian matters on our general thread which is here:
www.goodreads.com/topic/show/22820322... so do feel free to add any general chat to that thread about Proust in general. We'll keep this thread for posts about this volume.

I know some of us have read Proust before but it's great to have some Proustian newbies on the journey with us - at least there are no real spoilers to worry about in Proust! - so come and join us.

There's a "free" version on Audible of this volume so I might give it a go when the time comes


I halfheartedly tried once before having had the book on my shelf for eons but found it too daunting and boring. Perhaps listening might be a better way to experience the novel...?

Listening might work - or you might want to skip the opening preamble which sets up what is to come in the following books and skip straight to the 'Swann in Love' section. The opening isn't indicative of the rest of the work, I feel. What does everyone else feel who's read Proust?

I feel you need to sink into it. It became my bedtime read during Covid. You need to have patience and just relax and let it carry you.

Thanks both


Top tips

That's true too, Susan. The peaceful, possibly 'boring', beginning belies some of the racier later events... such as the scene in the gay brothel!

😮

I've bought the Lydia Davis translation and will give it a try later this year. You really have to search for it on Kindle!

I'm excited to join. Thanks for setting up the discussion, RC.

I'm in , although feeling a bit intrepid .

Delighted so many of us are in for this (that wouldn't be my teaser about the gay brothel, would it? 🤣)

Darn it, GR deleted my comment, now all over again...

Roman Clodia wrote: "Listening might work - or you might want to skip the opening preamble which sets up what is to come in the following books and skip straight to the 'Swann in Love' section. The opening isn't indicative of the rest of the work, I feel. What does everyone else feel who's read Proust?."

I personally wouldn't skip the first (Combray) section because it introduces a few important elements - involuntary memory (the famous tea/madeleines scene), the two ways (The Guermantes and Swann's ways - there is still a debate on how to translate this word "way" because of its specific meaning in the novel), Proust's method of reflecting on people or scenes in the novel through Renaissance and other paintings (I still remember the description and significance he gave to Giotto's Virtues and Vices), or the profiles of characters who reoccur later on. I agree that it's less accessible than the Swann in Love section though...

Can't wait!

Yes, much of this is sort of boring (a little like life) I guess, so much of the action is emotional. That worked for me and, as RC says, there are some more interesting events!

I will just say that by the end of this, I was utterly in love with Proust.

There is an old Backlisted Christmas episode which we might want to do as an extra for those of us who love the podcast later in the year.

It is episode 108


For this Christmas edition, recorded live at the London Library, John and Andy are the guests and the chair is the writer, Lissa Evans. Lissa is the author of several novels including Old Baggage, Crooked Heart and Their Finest Hour and a Half. She has appeared on Backlisted four times as a guest, including the very first one on J.L. Carr’s A Month in the Country and the episode on The Slaves of Solitude by Patrick Hamilton.

For this festive edition the main book under discussion is Marcel Proust’s À La Recherche du Temps Perdu, known by its English title as either Remembrance of Things Past or In Search of Lost Time, depending on preference and translation. Before that Andy reports back on his recent re-reading of Ulysses, while John delights in the original quick cooking classic, Cooking in Ten Minutes by Edouard de Pomiane. There are also expert Proustian cameos from Professor Sarah Churchwell, and translator, Shaun Whiteside and a rousing version of ‘The Twelve Days of Proustmas��, an Andy Miller original. And there’s a link to our Proust playlist - featuring many excellent suggestions from listeners.

Books mentioned:

Marcel Proust - Swann’s Way; Within a Budding Grove; The Guermantes Way; Sodom & Gomorrah; The Captive & The Fugitive; Time Regained (Scott-Moncrieff/Kilmartin translation)
The Way by Swann’s; In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower; The Guermantes Way; Sodom & Gomorrah; The Prisoner & The Fugitive; Finding Time Again (Penguin Proust - various translators ed. Christopher Prendegast)
Marcel Proust & Stephane Heuet - Swann’s Way (graphic novel)
Marcel Proust & Stephane Heuet - In the Shadow of Young Girl’s in Flower (graphic novel)
Andrew Sean Greer - Less
J.L. Husymans - A Rebours
Samuel Beckett - Proust
Harold Pinter -The Proust Screenplay
Alain de Botton - How Proust Can Change Your Life
Céleste Albaret - Monsieur Proust
Jozef Czapski - Lost Time: Lectures on Proust in a Soviet Prison Camp
Clive James - Gate of Lilacs: A Verse Commentary on Proust
Eric Karpeles - Paintings in Proust
James Joyce - Ulysses
Edouard de Pomiane - Cooking in Ten Minutes

Other links:

Pete Townsend - Time is Passing
Monty Python’s All England Summarize Proust Competition
Céleste Albaret talking about her memoir in 1972
102 Boulevard Haussman by Alan Bennett
Reynaldo Hahn sings and plays Toutes les Fleurs and more
Saint-Saëns Violin Sonata No.1
Desert Island Discs
Jealousy - Pet Shop Boys
Who Knows Where The Time Goes - Fairport Convention
The Past Sure Is Tense - Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band

Wonderful post, Susan, with so many fabulous links and suggestions. I'm not much of a podcast listener but like the sound of this one. We were planning some pre-Proust reading but things have just been a bit overwhelming here with lots going on. I love the idea of a soundtrack.

I've met Lissa Evans and she's just lovely - we fell straight into chatting about books immediately!

Vesna wrote: "Darn it, GR deleted my comment, now all over again..."

So frustrating, Vesna! Glad you posted some of the delights of Combray. You're right but I'm also aware it can be a bit hard going and Swann in Love is more like a conventional novella which can be a way in for some readers. It took me a few goes before I 'got' the rhythm of the beginning. And it can be surprising where the work goes, as the narrative really takes off after that start.

Life gets overwhelming sometimes and I am also very behind with my reading. I adore podcasts and Backlisted is a favourite of both myself and Nigeyb I know. It might be nice to do as a Christmas extra and be easier than organising reads.

Love this idea of a group podcast listen, Susan - it'll kick us off nicely at Christmas.

As promised, I've looked at a good place to split our January-February reading of this first volume and Penguin have helpfully divided their edition into parts so I suggest we follow the same.

I know we might all be reading different editions so:

January: Part one - Combray
February: Parts two and three: A love of Swann's/Swann in love, and Place names: the name.

This is roughly 200 or so pages per month.

I'm reading the Penguin, translated by Lydia Davis but feel free to read whichever translation you prefer.

The Penguin editions vol 2 & 3 are £1.99 at the moment. Previously, I read the Vintage editions, so maybe I'll join you with the Penguin editions this time. Not sure I can recall enough to compare, but I seem to have vol 1 already, so will download the next 2.

That's a bargain as I really rate this new Penguin series for the modern translation.

I have them all on Kindle but will most likely be reading this time in hard copy - they're those floppy paperbacks which means you can open the book fully without having to crack the spine. For some reason Waterstones Piccadilly didn't have the full set but I'm all ready with volume 1.

As if perfectly in tune with us, this is published on 18 December:

Marcel Proust: A Very Short Introduction

This Oxford series is a little uneven but can be excellent in a hundred or so pages.

Bumping this thread as I'm planning to start our Proust journey today.

A quick reminder that we're taking this slowly over the year and our January reading is the first section of volume 1: 'Combray' (about 200 pages).

Everyone is welcome!

Good luck all


I'm too easily daunted to be joining you for this one but I am sure you'll all have a blast

Well, it certainly passes my first page test with flying colours.

I have a few other books to read before I begin this in earnest, but I'm very encouraged.

Nigeyb wrote: "I'm too easily daunted to be joining you for this one but I am sure you'll all have a blast"

Haha, I suspect Proust might be the equivalent of Powell between us!

Ben wrote: "Well, it certainly passes my first page test with flying colours.

I have a few other books to read before I begin this in earnest, but I'm very encouraged."

💃 This is me doing a little dance of joy, Ben!

Also re-embarking on this. My new, end of the day read, as it was in Covid.

I think I'm going to adopt that strategy of bedtime reading as well.

Have my copy. Hope to start at the weekend when I am back home. Not even opened it yet, but a bedtime read sounds good.

The first time I read this I thought the beginning ('For a long time I went to bed early') was referring back to Marcel's childhood but now I think it's his present and he's recalling years of being ill. That is, it's 'now' before he eats the madeleine and recalls the past.

Glad to have found you as I am picking up volume 1 now! Happy New Year, all.

This may be the most important thread for me in 2025. I just hope I can keep up with everyone in reading my first ever Proust. Someone mentioned “intrepid��. What is persistent in my brain is terror. I have always been completely intimidated by the idea of reading this author (irrespective of the previous tease of brothels).

He's fabulous, Susan. Honestly, in Covid, I fell in love with him...

So many people I've known have spoken glowingly of this, yet I've never been able to get into it. I read about 10 pages of the Lydia Davis translation about 20 years ago, but got no farther, probably because of some medical event (I was taking care of my mother), and never got back to it.

I'm hoping that reading with a group will help me get through it. Even if I turn out not to like it, I will at least be able to say that I've read Proust, and perhaps have conversations with those I encounter IRL who love the book.

I started at breakfast this morning. New year, new beginning, I thought. It's not off to an auspicious start, though. Two pages in my eyes are already glazing over. Will try more later. I refuse to give up so early!

I suspect listening to it might be the way to go for those whose attention wanders with the printed version

Susan_MG wrote: "This may be the most important thread for me in 2025. I just hope I can keep up with everyone in reading my first ever Proust. Someone mentioned “intrepid��. What is persistent in my brain is terror..."

Oh Susan_MG, please don't feel intimidated. Also no-one should feel any pressure to keep going if Proust isn't for you at this time.

There are big themes that emerge about how to feel at home in the world and the role of art in life, but it's all wrapped up in a meditative style that can be funny, scathing, ironic. There's social comedy as Marcel looks back on his youth, stories of love and friendship, of family and social climbing. As Susan has said, it's best to just go with the flow.

Stylistically, think Mrs Dalloway or To the Lighthouse, with a strong sense of interiority.

RC Thank you for your comments. Haha, I think I made myself sound like a victim. I love books of all genres and I rarely drop a book before finishing. Proust already was a goal for my reading this year so I’m absolutely thrilled others here have read or will be joining and commenting.

It it's any reassurance you're not alone G and Susan_MG. The difference is I've given up trying. I just get frustrated by writing where I have to continually ponder the meaning. When RC states above think Mrs Dalloway or To the Lighthouse I am reminded why I'm not sufficiently motivated to struggle through. All that said, I love reading the comments and marvel at how much other readers find to enjoy. It's a wonderful thing to behold.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do

Nigeyb wrote: "It it's any reassurance you're not alone G and Susan_MG. The difference is I've given up trying."

As the most inveterate did-not-finisher on here (probably) I completely endorse recognizing when a book is just not for me.

Hoopla has two audio versions of Swann’s Way. One narrator is Simon Vance. The other is Neville Jason. I’m very familiar with Vance, but not sure I’ve heard Jason.

Thoughts/recommendations?

G wrote: "Hoopla has two audio versions of Swann’s Way. One narrator is Simon Vance. The other is Neville Jason. I’m very familiar with Vance, but not sure I’ve heard Jason.

Thoughts/recommendations?"

G, you might decide based on the edition / translation you prefer. I don’t know about Jason, but I just read somewhere that Vance is reading the Penguin (Davis) translation.

I gave up on Joyce after about five minutes. Sometimes you just know.

I have though, finished Chapter 1. Oh, those stairs to the bedroom, and the waiting and the agonising and the way he is made to feel weak and childish and not a man for wanting his mama. Loved it...

I missed my first bed-time date with Proust last night. Am out tonight so may miss my second. I love that opening though, his evocation of an invalid waiting desperately for the night to end, and the recall of the lantern pictures in his bedroom and his mother coming to kiss him.

I am joining the group in anticipation of reading Swann's Way under the Guidance of Roman Clodia. Hope I am welcome and look forward to everyone's posts.

Hi Sam - everyone is welcome here!

And I won't be guiding so much as posting meandering thoughts as and when I have them 😉

You may be guiding us, Sam!

Jen wrote: "G wrote: "Hoopla has two audio versions of Swann’s Way. One narrator is Simon Vance. The other is Neville Jason. I’m very familiar with Vance, but not sure I’ve heard Jason.

Thoughts/recommendati..."

Thank you! Hoopla rarely specifies the translation in its information, and unlike Libby, offers no way to sample the audiobook. I'm only allowed 7 items a month, and hate to waste them, especially at the beginning of a long month. I think I'll go with the Vance. I'm in the middle of his 2024 audios of Le Carré's Smiley series, so this might be interesting (and possibly disorienting), hearing the same voice switch between two such different writers.

Susan wrote: "You may be guiding us, Sam!"

Afraid I am going to defer to Roman Clodia here. who is far more informed than I will ever be. This is like getting to sit in on a lecture from a favorite professor for me, but I appreciate the welcome.

G wrote: "Jen wrote: "G wrote: "Hoopla has two audio versions of Swann’s Way. One narrator is Simon Vance. The other is Neville Jason. I’m very familiar with Vance, but not sure I’ve heard Jason.

Thoughts/..."

I personally like his narration and imagine he would be a good fit here. I can also vouch for the Davis translation which I started yesterday and had to force myself to put down in the interest of reading slowly.

I’m under no delusions that this will be a cracker all the way through, but such a strong start!