In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower
Ratings13
Average rating4.4
15
Ratings13
Average rating4.4
Within a Budding Grove (1919) is the second volume of Marcel Proust's seven-part novel In Search of Lost Time. Written while Proust was virtually confined to his bedroom from a lifelong respiratory illness, Within a Budding Grove is a story of memory, history, family, and romance from a master of Modernist literature. Praised by Virginia Woolf, Vladimir Nabokov, Michael Chabon, and Graham Greene, In Search of Lost Time explores the nature of memory and time while illuminating the history of homosexuality in nineteenth century Europe. After years of admiring the Swann family from a distance, the narrator befriends the lovely young Gilberte. Through her, he gains access to her parents and their home, where artists and intellectuals gather to discuss their lofty ideals alongside the latest gossip. Despite his attraction to Gilberte, he finds himself enthralled with her mother, a careworn beauty so often ignored by her husband. As he grows and learns, he begins to recognize the reality concealed by convention: the secret liaisons between lovers; the petty competitions of artists; the fleeting nature of affection and lust alike. Written in flowing prose, Within a Budding Grove is a masterpiece of twentieth century fiction that continues to entertain and astound over a century after it appeared in print. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Marcel Proust's Within a Budding Grove is a classic work of French literature reimagined for modern readers.
Reviews with the most likes.
Note: I didn't read this translation, I read “Within a Budding Grove.” Which, accuracy aside (I don't speak French so I don't know), is a much better title. Much less awkward and (perhaps) overly literal...
‰ЫПPleasures are like photographs: in the presence of the person we love, we take only negatives, which we develop later, at home, when we have at our disposal once more our inner dark-room, the door of which is strictly forbidden to open while others are present.‰Ыќ
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‰ЫПThough I met each new day with the thought that I was now on the threshold of life, which still lay before me all unlived and was about to start the very next day, not only had my life in fact begun, but the years to come would not be very different from the years already elapsed.‰Ыќ
After reading the Lydia Davis translation of Swann's way, it was tough to adjust to the slightly clunkier CKSM translation, I can only imagine this could be a 5 star read if she had translated this volume as well.
(Don't buy the Mint Editions copy, full of typos and inner-margins are way too narrow!)
I absolutely love the introductions of both Robert and Albertine... Poor Robert deserved better from Marcel :”(
“Grief that is caused one by a person with whom one is in love with can be bitter, even when it is interpolated among preoccupations, occupations, pleasures in which that person is not directly involved and from which our attention is diverted only now and again to return to it.”
“Pleasure in this respect is like photography. What we take, in the presence of the beloved object, is merely a negative film; we develop it later, when we are at home, and have once again found at our disposal that inner darkroom, the entrance to which is barred to us so long as we are with other people.”
Books
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Series
7 primary books11 released booksÀ la recherche du temps perdu is a 12-book series with 8 primary works first released in 1913 with contributions by Marcel Proust, Lydia Davis, and 7 others.
Series
8 primary booksÀ la recherche du temps perdu - Adaptation graphique is a 8-book series with 8 primary works first released in 1913 with contributions by Marcel Proust, Arthur Goldhammer, and 4 others.
