Thursday, February 09, 2006
East Coast vs. West Coast Proust
Greetings from the East Coast! As you can probably deduce, I am the symbolic third coast of our blog. I hope you've enjoyed the previous posts because they indicate the variety of thought and expression we present. In future posts I intend to branch out on many topics, including pop culture, sports, politics, and food and wine. But for my inaugural post, I'd like to traverse a familiar path for me.
My fiancé remarked the other day that when she reads, she acutely visualizes the scenes in her head. It's no wonder that she prefers plot-driven stories, particularly horror and fantasy, for her mind can vividly depict the epic battles or bloody murders as well as, and if not better than, the movies.
I am not this way. What strikes me more than the visual scenes is the emotive effect of the prose. For example, I think the genius of Proust's Swann's Way lie not in the author's assiduous recreation of his boyhood summer home, Combray. In fact I feel this section attains the pinnacle of boredom. Midway through it I wished the narrator hadn’t eaten that damn madeleine at all!
Rather, I think Proust's genius lies in his microscopic examination of Swann's psyche as he falls in love with Odette. This dissection of Swann's anxiety, jealousy, elation, and despair are like none other that I have read, and so closely matches my experiences that it is the epitome of verisimilitude in fiction. For this section alone I would recommend "Swann's Way" to anyone, no matter the tedium that awaits in "Combray."
My point, however, is not to criticize a classic French novel. It is to address the different ways we interact with text. Different readers can have different experiences with the same piece of work, and I think that's a good thing. This difference will be one of the strengths of this blog. Together with my co-contributors, we can offer a variety of views on what it is to be a person interacting with our diverse American culture. And you, the reader, will hopefully leave our blog at the bare minimum intrigued, and at best, like Swann in love.
My fiancé remarked the other day that when she reads, she acutely visualizes the scenes in her head. It's no wonder that she prefers plot-driven stories, particularly horror and fantasy, for her mind can vividly depict the epic battles or bloody murders as well as, and if not better than, the movies.
I am not this way. What strikes me more than the visual scenes is the emotive effect of the prose. For example, I think the genius of Proust's Swann's Way lie not in the author's assiduous recreation of his boyhood summer home, Combray. In fact I feel this section attains the pinnacle of boredom. Midway through it I wished the narrator hadn’t eaten that damn madeleine at all!
Rather, I think Proust's genius lies in his microscopic examination of Swann's psyche as he falls in love with Odette. This dissection of Swann's anxiety, jealousy, elation, and despair are like none other that I have read, and so closely matches my experiences that it is the epitome of verisimilitude in fiction. For this section alone I would recommend "Swann's Way" to anyone, no matter the tedium that awaits in "Combray."
My point, however, is not to criticize a classic French novel. It is to address the different ways we interact with text. Different readers can have different experiences with the same piece of work, and I think that's a good thing. This difference will be one of the strengths of this blog. Together with my co-contributors, we can offer a variety of views on what it is to be a person interacting with our diverse American culture. And you, the reader, will hopefully leave our blog at the bare minimum intrigued, and at best, like Swann in love.
