Hi, Ben. I'm convinced! And want to try what I have also seen as impossible...or thought I had to read Proust in French. What is considered the best translation? Are there many? THANKS.
Hi Annie. Excellent! There are a few yes, but my go to one is the 2003 Modern Library edition, which is a revised version of the Moncrieff/Kilmartin edition, itself based on the original Moncrieff translation, sometime around 1931, I think. It spruces up and modernises the language, making it a bit more readable in English, especially given those long, long, subordinate clause laden, sentences Proust is famous for!! Enjoy :)
Hey, if I don’t comment now, the moment will pass…so even though this isn’t particularly thought through…I love much if what you say so well here.
I love the duality of Proust. I actually am really into the idea of him being seen as a queer dilettante obsessed with society while also writing this extraordinary insightful and fascinating book. Just as you say, every time I pick it up (which is like every day) I am excited at the thought of the experience waiting for me of becoming intricately involved in sentences and words and paragraphs, of the world he writes, of the peeling back by that intricacy (which is a huge feat on his part). I could go on…and one…just like him, really.
I think it is a heavily populated world one falls into: man, it’s a whole scene.
There’s the novel. Like always.
And then there are all these people writing and thinking about it and him. So, that just adds to one’s interest in staying with that world, or at least visiting it often.
Hi, Ben. I'm convinced! And want to try what I have also seen as impossible...or thought I had to read Proust in French. What is considered the best translation? Are there many? THANKS.
Hi Annie. Excellent! There are a few yes, but my go to one is the 2003 Modern Library edition, which is a revised version of the Moncrieff/Kilmartin edition, itself based on the original Moncrieff translation, sometime around 1931, I think. It spruces up and modernises the language, making it a bit more readable in English, especially given those long, long, subordinate clause laden, sentences Proust is famous for!! Enjoy :)
Hey, if I don’t comment now, the moment will pass…so even though this isn’t particularly thought through…I love much if what you say so well here.
I love the duality of Proust. I actually am really into the idea of him being seen as a queer dilettante obsessed with society while also writing this extraordinary insightful and fascinating book. Just as you say, every time I pick it up (which is like every day) I am excited at the thought of the experience waiting for me of becoming intricately involved in sentences and words and paragraphs, of the world he writes, of the peeling back by that intricacy (which is a huge feat on his part). I could go on…and one…just like him, really.
Hey. Thanks for the comment. Yes, it's like falling into a new world. And once in, it's incredibly hard to climb out. Not that I ever want to!
I think it is a heavily populated world one falls into: man, it’s a whole scene.
There’s the novel. Like always.
And then there are all these people writing and thinking about it and him. So, that just adds to one’s interest in staying with that world, or at least visiting it often.