Friday, May 27, 2011

Proust in The Park and the Proust Support Group

Some nice photos and observations:


  Proust in the Park 

And if you live near Venice, no not THAT Venice, you may want to join the Proust Support Group.

  Proust Support Group

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Proust Anecdote

Good morning, readers!  It's 10:55 a.m. in Foxborough, and for the first time in weeks, the sun is shining.  I got so excited I cooked steak and eggs for breakfast, hoping that will see us through the day.  The orange cat is patrolling the house, hoping to sneak out and bag a chipmunk or two.
 The Huffington Post review of the new movie that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival (Tree of Life) has a fun Proust anecdote.  Read down a few paragraphs and you'll find it.  Movie sounds wonderful.  How often can one actually say that?

Me?  I am trying to catch up on this season's Treme, which is so good, and I love the multiple story lines that converge and diverge.  Kind of like Proust. 

I'm almost finished with my Traveler's Tales of Spain book, and ready to dive into the narrator's problems again, and everyone is at Balbec, so the reading will even be seasonal.  


Here is the link: 

Fun Proust Anecdote 

Odette 

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Reading Proust in Minneapolis

Proust has done it again!  He's listed in the top 10 books of all time.   These are all novels except for one short story collection, by the way, and the list has strengthened my resolve to read Middlemarch,  the only book on the list I haven't read. I'm finishing a book of Traveler's Tales of Spain, as we are visiting there before the end of the year.

It's been a week for azaleas and rhododendrons (not hawthorns) here in Massachusetts.  Rains every day and we see the sun only rarely.  Today, as least was warm and I was able to weed the garden.   The narrator would still be bundled up in coats and scarves.  Perhaps I put the winter coats, gloves and scarves away prematurely.   

 Here is the link to the best books:

Top 10 Books of All Time

Odette

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Fortuny and Proust Revisted

Fortuny Dress
Photographe à Dublin  has reminded me  of the relationship  of Fortuny and Proust.  A Google search has provided the following links.  Google is actually supposed to be sending me Proust links, but the well has dried up lately and my reading of Proust has been temporarily suspended due to lots of projects at home and an upcoming trip to Spain and Portugal which requires some in depth reading about those two countries.  The nice thing about Proust is that you can pick up the book after long intervals and come right back into the story.  I left my friends in La Raspeliere and now as summer approaches (here in New England it seems to be a long time coming) I will try to return to the narrator and his mild adventures. 


Here are the Fortuny links.  When I traveled to Venice, I had no idea there was a Fortuny museum there, alas.  Venice, like Paris, was one of those cities which lived up to its billing.  San Francisco always has, as well.  Without more ado,  some great Fortuny links, many with mentions of Proust. 
Mariano FORTUNY Y MADRAZO:     http://www.senses-artnouveau.com/biography.php?artist=FOR 

Fortuny in Wikipedia:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariano_Fortuny_%28designer%29   

  Fortuny Museum in Venice: 

The Fortuny gown: http://www.chick.net/proust/fortuny.html   

Fortuny museum photo:   http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevharb/3309836553/in/photostream/