In Search of Lost Time (Remembrance of Things Past) – Marcel Proust – 1913
Posted by guillermo maynez on 29/5/2014, 11:01:42
I am now embarking on what will be a years-long project: reading Proust’s magnum opus in its original French. Last October, by the banks of the Seine, I bought from a used-books seller an untouched 1954 edition by Gallimard (Bibliotheque de la Pleiade), the first “definitive” one. It’s a treasure. So, armed with a heavy Larousse French-Spanish dictionary and a guide by Terence Kilmartin, translator of Proust into English, I have begun…
In between the seven parts, I will read other things, but not for long, so as not to lose track.
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Posted by joffre on 29/5/2014, 20:32:18, in reply to “A la Recherche du Temps Perdu”
Excellent plan. Enjoy. Maybe if I ever learn a bit of French as I still hope to do, I’ll try the same.
I’ve read Proust three times. The last time, in 07, I spent most of a year reading ten or twelve pages a day. The idea was to make sure I didn’t read beyond my attention span. Um, that makes me sound pretty dumb. My attention span is longer than 12 pages, but I do sometimes read beyond it. Next time, I plan to read each of the seven books individually, maybe one every six weeks or so, with other books between. I think I will also read the new translation by Lydia Davis next time.
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Posted by Sterling on 7/6/2014, 16:22:19, in reply to “Re: A la Recherche du Temps Perdu”
: I think I
: will also read the new translation by Lydia Davis next
: time.
FYI-
1) Ms. Davis only translated Swann’s Way. Each volume has a different translator, in the translation series in which she participated.
2.) This may make no difference in Argentina, but the last two volumes (the last three Proustian volumes) of that translation series will not be available in the US until 2018 for copyright reasons. I ordered the set from amazon.co.uk.
Guillermo,
As a typical anglophone who is not proficient in any other language, I stand in awe of you. Not only do you have an excellent command of English, but now you propose to read a famously demanding classic in the original French! Formidable!
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