A River of Proustian Memory and Time

I started listening to Proust and it feels again like I've submerged into a slow-moving prose river. The water is clean, with gradual bends, but sometimes filled with small boiling eddies, swirls, and reverses. Time and memory move in one direction, but the current of Proustian memory contains an involuntary universe of vortexes and wakes. We fall in and out of love. Our memory of our love becomes bent and refracted as we move away from those we once loved.

Seriously, every time I read/listen to Proust I finish thinking he could write a whole novel about one small spot on a random river. An exposed rock or boulder that cuts the flow of the river into two halves could occupy 100 pages as Proust described the nuance of the water around and against the rock. He would obviously need to describe the varying temperature of the water and the way the light moves through the textured leaves of the green forest's canopy. How evening's light danced its crepuscular silhouettes against the reflections of dusk on the churning ripples of a slowly moving river.

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Perhaps the Most Cohesive of Them All

I know of no rating that fits these segments of In Remembrance of Things Past better than 5 stars (that is, unless you would allow me to award 6!)

It is such a treat to read/listen to this most extraordinary literature. I simply can’t believe I haven’t done so until now.

The Fugitive is largely about the relationship of Marcel and Albertine. I won’t say more because I don’t want to give away the story. But, suffice to say, it’s brilliant and well told. And, I would add, the title of this installment tells a lot about the course of the story, as to both characters. Again, I’ll say nothing more, save that this Part 6 is, I think, the most cohesive of them all.

I would add that we see here a culmination of many subplots and the course of affairs for many of the main characters as they become “fugitives” of their earlier lives.

The language, the vocabulary, the characterizations, the perceptions, the weaving together of memories - all that Proust does so well continue in the finest fashion.

Neville Jason has created a remarkable thing of beauty in his narration.

PLEASE know that this series of In Remembrance is so very fine and is well worth your attention and experience.

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Weakest volume

I guess. This is very tell don’t show. Mostly gossip about what happened rather than realistic behavior. Marcel wasn’t there for the events, so we would lose the POV if we got the scenes, but mp solved that for Charlus. I don’t find Albertine to be a convincing character at all in this volume, and it makes this one painful, because little of the material resonates. I guess we all know that it’s because Albertine isn’t Albertine, but it tries the patience. I prefer the previous volume over this one. Looking forward to a spectacular conclusion.

Building toward the final installment

This is Proust at his best as he begins tying together all of the threads of his mega novel going into the final volume. Well read by Neville Jason.