Remembrance of Things Past, Volume III: The Captive, the Fugitive & Time Regained

Think of the series of books as a diary. It's all about his perception of things. Kind of like the ARTHUR INMAN DIARY, but not written by a huge bigot (like Arthur Inman).And Proust doesn't kill himself in the end.Mike

Reading Marcel Proust books like : The Past Regained , has been a delicious experience . i especially like the sense in his novels of space and time as being deepened [in terms of their potential for a type of resonance ] by the act of contemplation : where things are contemplated according to a sequence of precise manuevers within and outside of the mind . This is a theme the theologian Paul Tillich also touches upon in his writings . Thomas Wolfe , perhaps , was mistaken when he said : you can't go home again . Marcel Proust teaches us that it is possible to go home again . If we are willing to dwell on the past and contemplate without conflating or distorting each of the distinct nuances of past experiences , we can have the experience of cosmically going home again . [We must in this process avoid the mental laziness of the pop psychology that tells us "don't dwell on it' , "don't cling" to the interesting experiences of the past . ] Do dwell on it should be the message .

I set myself the challenge of reading this monumental work, and am still in the process of slogging through Volume 3, which I hope to finish sometime before death.The book has moments of transcendant beauty and insight that have made it worthwhile, but also some deeply tedious sections that seem to drag on endlessly. My main problem has been the exasperation I feel with Proust himself. It is frankly difficult at times for modern readers to identify with this supremely self-involved aesthete of the early 20th century. Often I just want to reach out and smack him and tell him to quit whining and obsessing and get on with his life, already. Currently, I am dealing with his jealousy and need to control Albertine and her lesbianism, when I have to restrain myself from screaming "Go ahead and break up with her, you dolt!" The minute details of his emotional life spread out over 3,000 plus pages are sometimes overwhelming. On the other hand, I have to admit that he is ruthlessly honest and makes no attempt to render himself in a glowing light, which is admirable. And there are occasionally those deeply profound insights into human nature that strike a chord in everyone, along with a valuable documentation of a time and a life so unlike my own and fascinating in its own way. Take the challenge, and good luck!