Reading Proust requires concentration, peace and quiet, and a little time for contemplation. I suppose a hunting blind will do, but the blogger below was not so fortunate:
http://yolacrary.blogspot.com/2008/01/fleeting-thoughts-on-holiday-reading.html
Publications such as People, or USA Today can be perused anyplace, but Proust, ah, you will need silence and solitude, and then the reading can go really well. That is the reason I have been so slow, sometimes the silence and the solitude don't coincide with the "mood" and then time passes, lost time, to be sure, and whatchagonnado?
With all of our devices and need for distraction, this delicious solitude may be hard to find.
Try harder.
Amen.
Odette
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2 comments:
So you may find this crazy, but I do almost all of my Proust reading on public transportation (usually the tube). I get a good half hour to read almost every day, if the squishing of bodies is not too close, and I can usually manage anywhere from four to ten pages of Proust a day. This suits me just fine as I find his books rather like flourless chocolate cake - delicious, but you don't want to have too much at a time. And on weekends, if I read at all, I usually stick to my trashy science fiction as kind of a "break." (You should read my Proust post in December with all of the links in it - finding pictures of the people who inspired his characters was very exciting for me!)
I confess to have not gotten very far with Proust but i'm going to give it another try, again.
I work in the Phoenix Public Library and yesterday picked up a copy of "New Scientist". There's an article about the original "headphones/earphones" and it mentions that Proust, whilst ensconced in his room, regularly listened to a live broadcast from the Paris Opera (via microphones set up around the stage) of Debussy's Pelleas and Melisande - using these 'theatrophones" i believe they were called.
Anyway, i thought you might want to check this article out if you hadn't seen already.
Cheers!
-Tom
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