Yan Liyuan
July 10, 2020 is the 149th anniversary of the birth of French writer Marcel Proust. Proust 's "Remembering the Years" has always been regarded as one of the most difficult classic literary works to read, and there is a saying that "life is too short, Proust is too long". The reason is that in addition to the seven-volume chapter, he also has factors such as his use of long sentences, not very plot-oriented, and he likes to describe salon scenes in a comprehensive way. So, based on the structure and writing of the whole book, is there a simpler reading path that can help readers enter this great work? How to choose a chapter to skip? This article will provide some suggestions based on the author's personal preferences and is for reference only.
"Remembering the Years Like Water" (newly revised), where to read
in 2012?
Proust compared the structure of "Remembrance of the Years" to a cathedral, aiming to illustrate the harmony and symmetrical structure of the whole book. But it is difficult for first-time readers to grasp this point, and there is no need to force a general impression immediately. There can be different ways to read this seven-volume book, and it does not have to be followed by the map given by the author.
The first "Kumbrey" in the first volume of the first volume of "In the Swan House" is the beginning of the book, explaining the origin of memories and some childhood past events. This is one of the most poetic poems in the book, depicting the bell tower, the early morning of Kamprai, the scenery on the Viforna River, and the reading time on Sunday afternoons are all like flowing poems. The portrayals of aunts, Françoises, Legrandane, grandfather, grandmother and others are also vivid.
The lotus flowers in the distance are denser, but they appear pale, not so smooth, rough, and a little wrinkled. They are piled up by unintentional flowing water into a bunch of interesting flower balls. It looks like a lively recreation after a lively recreation. The roses on the flower ribbons float on the water, letting the flowing water float and sink... After flowing out of the garden, the Vifona River surging again. How many times have I seen a boatman who put down his oar and lay on his back in the boat, and let the boat float with the waves. His head rested on the board, and the sky slowly drifted above him, and his face showed an expression of anticipation of happiness and peace. If I could live as much as I wish, I would like to imitate his open-mindedness and openness! (Section 2 of the first "Gangblade" Volume 1" Part 1 "Gangblade")
In addition to following the steps, there is another way to read, that is, to read from the second part of the first volume, "Swan's Love". In terms of time, the story of "Swan's Love" took place before the first "Kumbray", and the plot is also a relatively independent chapter. If you don't read the previous article, it will not affect your understanding of this part. In addition, the love pattern reflected in "Swan's Love" can be seen as a microcosm of various love stories in the book to some extent - pure subjective love has also turned into pain because it is trapped in subjectivity. This story is the only paragraph in the book that does not use the first person and is not the protagonist's memory. Moreover, it is not long, with only more than a hundred pages, which is suitable for reading first.
In addition, Yilin Publishing House's seven-volume "Remembering the Years Like Water" opens with Andre Moroya's preface. This preface provides a very precise explanation of Proust's life, the writing process of "Remembering the Years Like Water", and artistic achievements, which helps to gain a basic understanding of the book before reading.
Wonderful chapters
"Remembrance of the Years" is like a huge building. Each part of the building has its own beauty. When combined, it becomes the entire building of memory. Although reading separately sometimes cannot experience the atmosphere of the entire building, it does not harm the beauty of each other.
There are several paragraphs that are particularly exciting and can be read in detail.
One is the first section of "Kumbrey".
When a person is asleep, the gossip of time lingers around him, year by year, the sun, moon and stars are arranged in an orderly manner around him.When he woke up, he instinctively asked it, and in a moment he could know what place he occupied on the earth and how long it had passed before waking up; but the sequence of time and space may also be confused or even broken. For example, after he had insomnia, he suddenly felt sleepy before dawn, but at that time he was reading a book, and his body posture was very different from his usual sleep state. He raised his hand and could stop the sun from running or even retreat. Then, when he woke up again, he would not know what hour he had just lie down. If he dozes, such as leaning on an armchair after meals, the position is farther from the position he sleeps, and the sequence of sun, moon and stars will be completely messed up, and the chair becomes a magic chair, taking him to travel quickly in time and space. When he opens his eyes, he will think that he is lying elsewhere, lying in the place he has been to several months ago...
This section is the beginning of the book, starting from the darkness to recall the room he once lived in, and recalling the past in Gongbray when he was childhood. The discussion of memory in this section is very exciting, and the description of the feelings given by rooms in different seasons is deeply empathetic. At the end of the festival, "I" suddenly awakened all memories of the past from a small Madeleine cake with a childhood flavor, and pointed out the title, which can be regarded as a wedge for the whole book.
The second is the second volume "Beside the Girls" "The Second Part "Gate Name: Place".
Sometimes, the sea shows such rare beauty, and I am far from sight, amazed and even more happy. It was this morning, not another morning, and the half-open window showed the beauty of Goddess Glaucus before my obsessed eyes. Her lazy and beautiful look, her weak breathing was as translucent as a hazy sapphire. Through this blue fog, I saw various elements that could be called colored to her. Ah, it's so unique! The goddess showed a sleepy smile, which made the invisible mist of the naked eye change the sunlight. (Second Part 2, Part 2) The story of
is set in Balbek by the sea. His description of the journey and the description of the sea are all very beautiful and moving. Marcel is in his youth. His views on love sometimes remind people of the pan-love of Jia Baoyu in "Dream of Red Mansions". He loves the girls on the beach as a whole. This kind of longing for youth is particularly vivid. When this love becomes love for the concrete Albertina, it begins to be accompanied by pain.
The third is the section "The gap between heart beats" in the second and first chapter of the fourth volume "Sodom and Gomore".
Now, the same need arises again. I know that I can wait for hours and hours forever, and I know that she can never snuggle beside me again. I just discovered this need, because for the first time in my life, I felt my living and real grandmother. She was about to swell my heart. I finally saw her again. However, at this moment, I learned that I had lost her forever... But I can no longer erase the twitching on her face, and I can no longer forget her heart, rather, the pain in my heart; because the dead only exists in our hearts. When we stubbornly recall the various blows we have given them, it is ourselves that we keep whipping.
My grandmother died in the third part, but in this section, "I" came to Balbek, who had traveled with her grandmother, and the sadness and remembrance of the death of her closest relative emerged.
The last volume of the book is the end of the book, which shows the most vicissitudes of life.
When I realized that I had been alive for such a long time without interruption, I thought about it and secreted it, this is my life, this is myself, not only that, but I also realized that I had to keep it connected with me every moment and let it support me, and I just lived on its dizzy top, and I couldn't move it myself without moving it. Thinking of this, I felt sleepy and fearful. The ringtone of the Kumbrey Garden is so far away but in my heart, the days when I listen to this ringtone are a benchmark in the vast territory that I do not know for all. Seeing that under my feet, I was actually on my body for so many years, I felt dizzy, as if I was in the sky of thousands of meters.(Snippet of "Reappearing Time" in Volume 7)
If you can read the whole book and read the last volume, you will feel the charm of the structure, as if a huge symphony is about to end, and all the preparations and themes point to the last ending. The characters who appeared before also experienced changes in their entire life with the protagonist. The reader is immersed in it, as if he has reached the end of the huge building of memory, lingering and unable to bear to leave. What can be skipped reading
?
Few people get used to Proust's long writing style for the first time. After all, we are used to the dramatic pattern with stronger conflicts. Therefore, when Proust uses more than one hundred pages to describe the communication between guests at a salon, he feels a little broken. Especially for Chinese readers, they do not understand the salon culture of that era, and are not familiar with most of the cultural hot topics and social events that people were passionate about in that era, which adds a layer of reading barrier. In such a situation, if you feel that you do not have the perseverance to understand the background carefully, skipping these salon plots will often not have a fatal impact on understanding the whole book. These large sections of salons and party descriptions are spread throughout the book, and are concentrated in the third and fourth volumes. The reason why
feels uncomfortable is fundamentally because of his different understanding of novels. The novels that readers usually understand are plot-centered and are a bit close to the feature films in the movie. The way Proust's novels is sometimes close to art movies. Compared with exciting plots, they pay more attention to the process of conveying the atmosphere and thinking, so they will feel a little uncomfortable when reading. The same is true for these long-term salon plots. If you do not expect the development of the plot but only objectively appreciate it, you may find that the comments about literature and music interspersed in the dialogue of characters, the colorful characters expressed through the dialogue, and the satirical brushwork implied, all show Proust's unique and ingenious side.
Of course, if you can't calm down and experience these for the time being, you can choose to skip them temporarily.
translations recommended
In fact, the above selection of paragraphs for skipping reading has been done by editors and scholars. These are the various translations of "Remembering the Years Like Water". Here we recommend two Chinese translations.
The first book is published by Guangxi Normal University Press , " tracing the past (reading book)" translated by . Mr. Zhou Kexi has a deep relationship with "Remembering the Years Like Water". He is not only one of the translators of the seven-volume version of the Translator Edition, but he once wanted to translate the book independently, but he did not finish it. The book "Pursuing the Past Time (Reader)" selected and translated by Mr. Zhou Kexi naturally has a good vision in the selection of paragraphs, and the distribution of the whole book is relatively balanced. In addition, a highlight is that there are some short texts to explain each excerpt, which helps readers clear the connection between paragraphs. The first reading book of Mr. Zhou Kexi is recommended.
"Survey on the Past Time (Reading Book)"
Another book is "Remembering the Past Time (Essential Book)" translated by Shen Zhiming, published by Shanghai Translation Publishing House. Judging from the catalog, it seems to be more focused on the translation of the first volume. I briefly compared the Shen version and Zhou version, and the text seems to be slightly inferior.
"Remembering the Past Years (Essential Book)"
Conclusion
dismembers the classic masterpiece and skips it. From a conservative point of view, it seems a bit unacceptable. This is usually because classics often have sophisticated structures, and skipping reading seems unrealistic. However, due to the structural and linguistic particularity of "Remembering the Years Like Water", a seemingly lazy reading method may be a path to entering the text world of "Remembering the Years Like Water". Perhaps, at the beginning, you fell in love with only a part of "Remembrance of the Years", Proust's poetic language, or the philosophical thinking about love and memories in the book, or the dialogue of characters full of irony and interesting - this is very likely, because this is a big book that is too rich, no one will fall in love with all the parts at once, but therefore, you can always find paragraphs that fit you.Then, maybe you will take this as the basis and gradually fall in love with more and more parts of "Remembrance of the Years". Readers who are attracted by poetic language will also discover the spiritual world behind the language; those who are attracted by philosophical thinking will also discover how skillful Proust's way of expressing this kind of thinking... In the end, maybe you will fall in love with the atmosphere of faint memories of the whole book and truly enter the world of "Remembrance". So everything in this world becomes very familiar, you no longer feel that it is lengthy, but that life is like this and memories are like this. A reading path like
is like the author starting with a small Madeleine cake to retrieve the past. We discovered the small Madeleine cake that fits us, and eventually, we will discover that world that has been forgotten by readers for a long time but is particularly beautiful.
Editor in charge: Gu Ming
Proofreading: Zhang Liangliang
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