What are you currently reading?

[Mandryka]

I'm scared I'm turning into a latter day Casaubon, with medieval music taking the place of biblical philiogy.

[SimonNZ]

Not if you're keeping up with the latest developments.

[Daverz]

All the Light we Cannot See:

Sounds really interesting, though I'm a bit disappointed it's not about infrared astronomy.

[AlberichUndHagen]

[j winter]

50 pages in, excellent so far....

[ritter]

Yes! That section of Remembrance... has possibly the most touching paragraph in prose I've ever read.  Hope you enjoy the book as much as I did. 

[AlberichUndHagen]

Yes! That section of Remembrance... has possibly the most touching paragraph in prose I've ever read.  Hope you enjoy the book as much as I did. 

Thanks, Rafael!  I would ask for that paragraph but I do know that Proust's paragraphs (and sentences, for that matter) can be awfully long (with all due respect to Proust, he is an amazing writer, even if verbose, ).

[ritter]

 

Let me know when you've finished the book, and I'll point you to that paragraph (which actually isn't that long  ).

[Mandryka]

The standard biography of Duras seems to be that by Laure Adler, originally published in 1998 with to popular success:


Then there's this book by Alain Vircondelet, which is actually in my library, that has a chapter called "Durasie", which (as per an amazon reviewer) deals with her imaginary reconstruction of her Far Eastern childhood (and which I might take a look at soon).


Note that both Adler and Vircondelet have each published other books on Duras, dealing with more specific issues of her life and/or work. Their biographies have been translated into English.

These are both at the Instut Francais library in London, and I intend to pick them up next time I'm in Kensington (Tuesday probably)

Yep, I was a bit surprised seeing you turning from L'amant to L'amante anglaise, as the latter is a novel (and play, but both derived from a much earlier theatre piece titled Les viaducs de la Seine-et-Oise) dealing with a particularly gruesome fait divers (based on actual newspaper reports from the late 40s), and is Duras in a completely different vein.

I haven't read L'amant de la Chine du Nord, which Duras wrote in reaction to the film that Jean-Jacques Annaud made of L'amant, which she publicly and notoriously disavowed (even if I suppose she got a hefty check for ceding the rights).

Do explore her films, Mandryka! I very much liked Une aussi longue absence (not directed by her, but by Henri Colpi, the original script is by Duras, though) and, most particularly, Le navire Night (Duras at her most durasien IMHO).

I've now seen Le navire night. And clearly this is an interesting film poem story. What I would like now -- and I'm kind of hoping you can point me to something -- is a book not about the structure (eg the relation between voice and image . . .) nor the genre, but the idea.

I know, dans mon for intérieur, that she has something really important to say about the human condition, but what exactly? (Remember I'm an analytic philosopher by training . . . )

Next time I hear a cat howling in the night I shall be overwhelmed with existential angst.

[Mandryka]

This is the new translation, which I've not read. I have very fond memories of Scott Moncrief, not least because of the pictures and the feel of the hardback books, but by all accounts the new one is more faithful.

Have you read Swann's Way, or are you starting with Jeunes filles en fleures? You really do have to know what Marcel sees through a window one day when he's taking a walk if you plan to make sense of the later novels.

[SimonNZ]

Let me know when you've finished the book, and I'll point you to that paragraph (which actually isn't that long  ).

I'd also be interested to know which paragraph that is.

The second book has a lot of whats most memorable and most enjoyable about the whole work...as befits a study of adolescence which creates so many of our most vivid memories.


oh, and currently reading:

[AlberichUndHagen]

This is the new translation, which I've not read. I have very fond memories of Scott Moncrief, not least because of the pictures and the feel of the hardback books, but by all accounts the new one is more faithful.

Have you read Swann's Way, or are you starting with Jeunes filles en fleures? You really do have to know what Marcel sees through a window one day when he's taking a walk if you plan to make sense of the later novels.

Yes, I've read Swann's way, finished it just recently. And the picture is not actually about the edition that I'm reading, for one, I'm reading it actually in Finnish. I thought using a picture about English edition would make it more understandable what I'm reading since I don't think too many people on this forum are fluent in Finnish. 

[Mandryka]

I'd also be interested to know which paragraph that is.

The second book has a lot of whats most memorable and most enjoyable about the whole work...as befits a study of adolescence which creates so many of our most vivid memories.

Oh but the best bits have to be those comic scenes with Charlus. Especially his relationship with Charles Morel.

This is maybe the difference between you and me, Simon. You read it for the poetic evocations of innocence. I read it for the sex and violence!

[Mandryka]

I'm reading it actually in Finnish.

I just fell off my chair!

[SimonNZ]

Oh but the best bits have to be those comic scenes with Charlus. Especially his relationship with Charles Morel.

This is maybe the difference between you and me, Simon. You read it for the poetic evocations of innocence. I read it for the sex and violence!

Ha! I actually find Charlus to be a kind of tragic figure, even early on. I see the humour in the writing, but I just feel sad.

The section in the second book on Elstir's art is probably my most re-read stand alone bit from the whole work.

[ritter]

I'd also be interested to know which paragraph that is.

It's the last paragraph of Autour de Mme. Swann (Madame Swann at Home), which closes with this beauty (in the C. K. Scott Moncrieff translation):

"And as the average span of life, the relative longevity of our memories of poetical sensations is much greater than that of our memories of what the heart has suffered, long after the sorrows that I once felt on Gilberte's account have faded and vanished, there has survived them the pleasure that I still derive—whenever I close my eyes and read, as it were upon the face of a sundial, the minutes that are recorded between a quarter past twelve and one o'clock in the month of May—from seeing myself once again strolling and talking thus with Mme. Swann beneath her parasol, as though in the coloured shade of a wistaria bower."

(Apologies to AlberichUndHagen for this spoiler of sorts  )

[SimonNZ]

Lovely. Thanks.

[Mandryka]

I very much liked Une aussi longue absence (not directed by her, but by Henri Colpi, the original script is by Duras, though)

Very good, fabulous acting from Georges Wilson. I also tried Vera Baxter, but somehow I was a bit put off by Gérard Depardieu (who normally I can take, but not here, not today, too strong a presence somehow.)

But I'm with you, I think, the most thought provoking one I've seen so far is Le Navire Night.

[ritter]

Very good, fabulous acting from Georges Wilson. I also tried Vera Baxter, but somehow I was a bit put off by Gérard Depardieu (who normally I can take, but not here, not today, too strong a presence somehow.)

But I'm with you, I think, the most thought provoking one I've seen so far is Le Navire Night.

Glad you've enjoyed those films, Mandryka. TBH, I didn't appreciate  Baxter, Vera Baxter much either, but not because of Depardieu, but for the film itself. I recall that the incessant repetition of the theme song (a piano piece, think) was terribly irritating.

[aligreto]

Atget: Paris





More perusing than reading.