Proust on film

I saw the dramatization of Proust's last "book" in Cambridge, MA several years ago.  Catherine Deneuve played Odette, a casting that would never have occurred to me.  The film was quite good. There were no car chases, no explosions, no blood and gore, and I don't think there was a seventeen year old in the house.  Just a hushed, reverent audience. 

Here is a link to an NYTimes article about the man who created the film. A Mild Mannered Maniac. 


The last volume of the great tome is, to my mind, the best, and I found the great denouement utterly thrilling. 


The Other Odette

Yves St. Lauren and me

It is mega-annoying when Blogger craps out in the middle of a post and there you are, with the links and the prose and the thoughts in your head--all vapor.

Here are some interesting links to funeral news and obits of YSL. All mention Proust and it’s almost as if Proust died again with him.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4074158.ece

http://www.style.com/trends/news/content_6866

http://www.redorbit.com/news/general/1411968/designer_mastered_appeal_to_masses_icon_of_haute_coutures_impact/

And now my own insignificant story. A newspaper article (most likely the NY Times) mentioned Laurent’s pumping new vigor into the Safari Suit. I remember I had one (not the designer’s) way back when. I put one on a character in The Shadow Warriors, in fact.

But this week, on a dark, rainy day, I pulled a linen safari blouse out of the ironing. Yes, readers, I am one of a handful of females who still iron. Napkins, handkerchiefs, towels, a few articles of clothing, and what have you.

The safari shirt/blouse is a bitch to iron with all the epaulet straps and garbage, but it’s kind of cool. Imagine my surprise (no, you absolutely cannot) when I saw in that newspaper article that in 2008 (this year!!!!) and 2007 (last year!!!) big name designers had touted safari clothing again, under the influence of YSL.

Which meant my long-in-the-tooth blouse was Au Courant. Who knew? So you may catch a glimpse of me flitting around Boston in black slacks and a safari blouse, or pale silk slacks and a safari blouse or even black jeans and a safari blouse.

And I am reading Proust again. After a month of thrillers and what have you, mostly written at third grade level (I am not making this up), Proust with his long sinuous sentences and subtle observations is a culture shock.

As ever,

Odette

Proust Was A Neuroscientist

A new book making the rounds of the reviewers dealing with memory and our sense of smell and taste. For example, the smell of burning leaves transports me back to my high school years in Brush, Colorado. Fall was in the air, and folks burnt their leaves back then. Barbara Wood and I were walking along the street by the library. I was 16, and telling Barbara that I really, really wanted to attend a "wild party" sometime.

Within the year I had my wish, but that's another topic. The odor of burning leaves. The odor of Old Spice: first boyfriend. The smell/taste of gin: getting horribly drunk on an empty stomach. One of those wild parties. The odor of boiled beef: poverty. Can't help it.

Here are the links:
This non-fiction book has generated lots of buzz. The New York Times had a review yesterday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/books/review/Max-t.html?n=Top/Features/Books/Book%20Reviews

Here’s more commentary:

From the Toronto Star:
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/273334

NRP: Scroll down
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15819485

The New York Post – Swann In Your Head
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15819485

Blog:

http://everythingandnothing.typepad.com/mississippi/2007/11/proust-was-a-ne.html

Blogging the Bloggers Blogging

Odette's Monday Clearing house:

Adieu to a French landmark in NYC, Librairie de France
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/nyregion/thecity/15fren.html

Zara quotes Proust:
http://biscuitofdoom.blogspot.com/2007/07/discovery.html

Shut Up, Proust! A blog that been flying under my radar
http://shutupproust.blogspot.com/2007/07/isygf-chapter-11-thats-what-they-make.html