Proust as Voyeur: Forbidden Places

A new book is out about  "the love hotels of Paris between the 19th and 20th centuries."  Marcel Proust frequented the Hotel  du Saumon to gather material for his book, setting scenes there.  My take is that Proust's interest was not entirely literary.  Well, so it goes.  This is the link to the Forbidden Places. 


A honky-tonk for men????   I thought honky-tonks were for loud music.  Isn't  "Honky Tonk"  a cool word.  Where do you suppose it originated? Apparently know one is sure.  It's been around since the 1890's and was first seen in print in 1920.  I do believe I will use it in my novel-in-progress.

This book, Nicole Canet's, not mine, is called an "erotic thriller." Sounds like something Toulouse Lautrec might have devised.  Canet is a painter and artist.   BTW, the book isn't on Amazon.  Sorry about that.  

Cheers!


Odette

 

Writers and Ideas

To ignore Proust for a post, tomorrow I'll be a guest blogger on Sheila Boneham's great writing blog. The topic is how a writer can run with an idea and the example I'm using is my recently published novel, World of Mirrors. Stop by and join the ever-fascinating topic of writers and ideas.

http://sheilaboneham.blogspot.com/

Two photos from the island of Ruegen where the novel is set.  These photos each led to an important scene in the novel. 

Statue in front of the Badehaus im Goor

Rugen Thatched Roof Cottage

Proust's Favorite Resort Hotel

Trouville and the surf lapping against the beach, ladies with long skirts and parasols, and girls riding bikes.  Ohhh!  It's Albertine and Andrea and the little band.  Proust vacationed here, and they even have his room restored.  Sounds spiffy.  I wonder if you get the same table every day and your own bottle of wine and water.

Proust's Fave Hotel

Portraits of Proust's characters

Resemblance: The Portraits

After so little Proust news lately, I have  a blockbuster web site for you.  How did I ever miss this one.  Paintings of how the artist imagined Proust's many characters.  You can play the game and try to guess who is who.  Some of them are easy to guess.  This is really amazing.  I'm so pleased to share with you. 

Proust's Cork-Lined Room

A blogger with lovely photos of Paris' 9th arrondissement has also posted a photo of Proust's cork-lined room now reassembled in the Museum Carnavalet.


Do take a look.  The Paris photos are great and make you want to jump on the next flight to Charles DeGaulle. 


Proust's Bedroom, Photos of Paris on Ann Webster's Blog  


Scroll to the bottom for the photo of Proust's room. 

Proust Vacationed in Normandy

Proust spent summers in Normandy in a town he called "Balbec" but he really stayed in Trouville or Cabourg.  Like many writers, Proust kept the names of big cities like Paris or Venice in his novel, but he changed the names of smaller towns like Cabourg to imagined names.  The same with Combray.  The imagined places become as real to us as Proust's Paris.  Here is a lovely picture of Cabourg, and you can almost see Proust strolling on the boardwalk before luncheon is served in the dining room. I don't see the young ladies on their bicycles, do you?  Proust loved them all.  Such a lovely image.


The Beach at Cabourg

Proust Plays Air Guitar on a Tennis Racquet

I honestly don't know if this is a real or a doctored photo, but it's a riot. Marcel Proust playing air guitar on a tennis raquet

We know Proust had a good sense of humor, so why wouldn't he act a little goofy in the presence of friends?  Sometimes he seems to be this great god-like master of fiction, but he was all too human.  This is a great example.

David and Goliath

The small, quiet suburban town of Foxborough has successfully fought Robert Kraft and Steve Wynn (two Goliashs) and scuttled the planned megacasino across from the stadium.  This behemoth would have ruined our peaceful town in so many ugly ways, and the voters turned out en masse to voice their opposition.

I felt proud that I had blogged, posted on the website, held a placard and made telephone calls.  Not much, but every person contributed in some way to the defeat of the casino.

I was so happy when I heard the news.  Citizens can still be an effective voice in a democracy.   As the late great Mayor Daley  (the original one) used to say, "The people have spoken." 

Vinteuil: Beethoven or Saint-Saens?

On April 15th,  Jeremy Eichler had a wonderful article in the classical music section of The Boston Globe, wondering who Proust really had in mind when he talked about Vinteuil's Septet. Pretty heady stuff for the Sunday Globe.  I had always assumed Proust had Saint-Saens Violin Concerto No. 1, Opus 75 in his head.  I thought I had even identified the "petite phrase." 
Maybe not.  Eichler makes a good case for three late Beethoven quartets, 130, 131, and 132.  He heard them performed in the new concert hall at our Isabella Stewart Museum and thought of Vinteuil's Sonata.  As I write I'm listening to Saint-Saens  and I think I hear it now. 

Nonetheless, I'm going to play those Beethoven Quartets and try to determine if they contain the little phrase.  Eichler has written a wonderful synopsis of the Proust/ Vinteiul conundrum and plays musical detective to give us greater insight into music in Proust.

Here is the link: Is Vinteiui's Music Beethoven's Late Quartets?  

Questions Marcel Proust Would Like to Ask You

So sad that the museum has no Proust letters and that the exhibit has been dismantled and "sent elsewhere."  

 This is a great post, and I salivate to have been on that tour!  Love this blogger's graphics.
 Questions Proust Would Like to Ask You

 I have the Painter biography by the way.  There's an entire shelf on the bookcase devoted to Proust and to James Joyce and T.S. Eliot. 


I read this week that Barak Obama was a big fan of Eliot's The Wasteland.  Me, too!  Also in college.   Well I daresay that he would be dubbed eliter than elitist should he start quoting Eliot.  Yikes!  Does anyone but English majors read that stuff anymore?  Hope so. 


Think I'll read some Proust tonight.  It's a long slog just to get through the magazines and newspapers that come to the house. 


Odette, the autre

On the Road with Proust

Kristen Stewart on the Road  Proust and  Kerouac are an unlikely pair, maybe even an unholy won, and I don't think      the Beats read Proust.  Well, maybe they did; who am I to say? 

For some  (old) but dishy gossip, with only one small mention of Proust, here is a book you probably don't need to read after you read the review.   Three American Girls in Paris                                                

It must be the silly season with all these frivolous mentions of Proust.   I am sorry to report that my reading of the masterpiece has been halted due to other reading, houseguests, travel, getting a book ready for publication, cooking and entertaining and well, you know . . . stuff.  But  I'm just stalled not bailing.

By the way, the town of Foxborough is beseiged by big, bad wolf Steve Wynn, who wants to build a behemoth casino here.   We would rather read Proust than deal with drunks, hookers,  and pawn shops.  I mean, really.

Odette, somewhat on her high horse. 

Fabulous Proust Quotes

Marcel Proust is eminently quotable, and here is a blog that assembled a big bouquet of quotes for your enjoyment and even edification.

My Proust reading hours have fallen due to being super busy on those New Year's Resolutions, a new book club, a new novel I've started, and polishing up a newly finished novel. Two dinner parties! Life is a whirlwind chez Odette, and we wish it would slow down a bit. Several writing events, and one coming up in April. Another public reading (eek!) in March.

I'll wander back to Proust soon. He always inspires. Here are the quotes. Quintessence

Odette

Jacqueline Rose's Proust Writings

Guardian Article About Jacqueline Rose's Proust Writings   

Since I've been reading about the sleeping Albertine, I found Rose's remarks interesting, although I have not come to this passage yet.   This is the first time I've come across mention of her novel, Albertine, which is an interesting take on a Proust character (there are so many).  Could keep a story-teller engaged for years.  

Who is your favorite Proust character? 

Technical Stuff

I am in the ugly process of changing a 12 year old (maybe older) email address to something more contemporary. My whole life is linked to that email, and even my blogs. Detaching and reattaching is unbelievably complex. Merging, purging, changing, setting hair on fire. So far I have only locked myself out of two sites.

This is just a test to make sure I can blog with a "new" identity. Proust never had these 21st century problems.
Ye gods.!