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#1

The Diner / Re: What are you currently rea...

Last post by ritter - Today at 03:43:04 AM

... I'm afraid that paragraph's significance would have escaped me anyway. 

But not it's (poetic) beauty...

Okay. I'm going to need you to PM me which one that is as well.

I think the second volume is the most page turning and easiest to love and has at least a half dozen of the most important scenes. But I don't immediately know which one you mean.

Since it is not a spoiler bay any menas, here it is:

"...Et, comme la durée moyenne de la vie — la longévité relative — est beaucoup plus grande pour les souvenirs des sensations poétiques que pour ceux des souffrances du cœur, depuis si longtemps que se sont évanouis les chagrins que j'avais alors à cause de Gilberte, il leur a survécu le plaisir que j'éprouve, chaque fois que je veux lire, en une sorte de cadran solaire, les minutes qu'il y a entre midi un quart et une heure, au mois de mai, à me revoir causant ainsi avec Mme  Swann, sous son ombrelle, comme sous le reflet d'un berceau de glycines."

"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."

#2

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: What are you listening 2 n...

Last post by Traverso - Today at 03:39:38 AM

Bach

[Andrei]

#3

The Diner / Re: What are you currently rea...

Last post by SimonNZ - Today at 03:37:25 AM

Your loss, cher Andrei.

Then you've missed one of the most beautiful paragraphs in prose I have ever read (it is halfway through À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleur, and can only really be appreciated IMHO if you've read everything that has preceded it, and probably all that follows it as well.

Okay. I'm going to need you to PM me which one that is as well.

I think the second volume is the most page turning and easiest to love and has at least a half dozen of the most important scenes. But I don't immediately know which one you mean.

[Andrei]

#4

The Diner / Re: What are you currently rea...

Last post by Florestan - Today at 03:31:12 AM

Your loss, cher Andrei.

Probably, but there are still tons of other interesting things to fill my time so as not to really feel it. 

Then you've missed one of the most beautiful paragraphs in prose I have ever read (it is halfway through À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleur, and can only really be appreciated IMHO if you've read everything that has preceded it, and probably all that follows it as well.

That would require my record-keeping and cross-referencing all characters and events, or alternately having a prodigious memory. Not being in the habit of the former neither having the latter, I'm afraid that paragraph's significance would have escaped me anyway. 

[Andrei]

#5

The Diner / Re: What are you currently rea...

Last post by ritter - Today at 03:12:56 AM

When I started Swann I was delighted but my initial enthusiasm dwindled every ten pages or so until it vanished completely and I never finished it. I don't even remember where I left off and I have no intention to start the whole damn stuff over again to find out. 

Your loss, cher Andrei.

Then you've missed one of the most beautiful paragraphs in prose I have ever read (it is halfway through À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleur, and can only really be appreciated IMHO if you've read everything that has preceded it, and probably all that follows it as well.

#6

The Diner / Re: What are you currently rea...

Last post by Florestan - Today at 03:04:11 AM

Appreciated, gents. Good to know that others have trodden the path before me. Walked the long, circuitous journey. Explored the fulsome, undulating road. Travelled the extensive, meandering byways. Essayed the ongoing, upward climb.

*sounds of creaking rope*

When I started Swann I was delighted but my initial enthusiasm dwindled every ten pages or so until it vanished completely and I never finished it. I don't even remember where I left off and I have no intention to start the whole damn stuff over again to find out. 

#7

The Diner / Re: What are you currently rea...

Last post by foxandpeng - Today at 02:56:27 AM

Appreciated, gents. Good to know that others have trodden the path before me. Walked the long, circuitous journey. Explored the fulsome, undulating road. Travelled the extensive, meandering byways. Essayed the ongoing, upward climb.

*sounds of creaking rope*

#8

The Diner / Re: What are you currently rea...

Last post by Florestan - Today at 02:53:34 AM

Is there mention here of the curious development of subsequent events, whereby a predominantly Mongol-Tatar formation began to encroach on the role of the new Rome?

There is a special chapter devoted to the legends created and spread following the Fall of Constantinople and the death (most probably KIA) of Constantine XI Palaiologos Dragasses, last Emperor of the Romans. It mentions some Russian tales but accords them no special treatment. Constantin died childless and unmarried, and by the end of the 15th century the colateral male line of the Palaiologi, his brothers and nephews, was documentedly extinct.

Unrelatedly, it's interesting to note some curious coincidences. The First Rome was founded by Romulus and fell during the reign of Romulus Augustulus. The Second Rome (Constantinople) was founded by Constantine, son of Helena and fell during the reign of Constantine, son of Helena. Make of that what you will.   

#9

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: Your favourite Tchaikovsky...

Last post by 71 dB - Today at 02:44:57 AM

I listened to the first symphony on Spotify (Jurowski). This is not a particularly mind-blowing symphony, but Tchaikovski knew how to compose Adagio cantabiles.

I received several pop CDs today, so Tchaikovski has to wait, but work in progress... 

#10

General Classical Music Discussion / Re: What are you listening 2 n...

Last post by prémont - Today at 02:40:51 AM

Another disastrous consequence of Brexit! 

We are told that opinions of Brexit in GB are changing, so maybe the way in foreseeable time can be paved for a BRENTRY?