About this title: Living in Paris with his family, Marcel becomes infatuated with the Duchess of Guermantes and, through his friend St.-Loup, her nephew, he attempts to make her acquaintance. His initiation into aristocratic society includes an introduction not only to its splendors but to its vices, including the homosexuality of the Baron de Charlus and the anti-Semitism surrounding the Dreyfus Case. (The Duchess refers to Zola as "the Homer of the sewers.") In another world entirely, Marcel's adored grandmother dies an agonizing death.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage, New York
Date Published: 1970
ISBN-13:9780394705965ISBN:0394705963
Description: Very Good. Book is in excellent condition with some rubbing to cover. Pages have slight wear from previous reading! A great copy! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Viking Adult
Date Published: 2004-06-03
ISBN-13:9780670033171ISBN:0670033170
Description: Very good. Very minimal damage to the cover (no holes or tears, only minimal scuff marks), in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, minimal to no highlighting/under. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date Published: 1970
Description: Good. No dust jacket. This copy does show a little more then the normal wear. Looks like the title was written on the spine. There is a bend on the corners, and a name inside. On page 204 the book will open all the way. It's not a complete split, pages are not loose. Inside is clean and except for this tight. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Edition: Later Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Modern Library [1952], N.Y.
Description: Very Good/No Jacket. 8vo-over 7 3/4"-9 3/4" Tall Used small 8vo with DJ [846]pp Translation of "Le Cote de Guermantes", parts I a nd II (from "A la Recherche du Temps Perdu"); originally published in this format in 1925. Translated by C.K. Scott Moncrieff. Issued as Modern Library Number 213. (light shelfear to extremities). read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Modern, New York
Date Published: 1952
Description: Book: Good. 12mo. 395 pp. 4 7/8 x 7 1/4. Gray cloth covered boards, stamped in green and gold on front and spine. No dj. Cloth a bit edgeworn, starting to fray at corners & head/foot of spine. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: The Modern Library, New York
Date Published: 1952
Description: Good. 5 x 7 1/2. Text is clean and unmarked; pages lightly tanned. A few pages show some bottom corner crimps. Cover shows some worn areas. Translated by C. K. Scott Moncrieff. Contents: Names of People, My Grandmother's Illness, A Visit from Albertine. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Modern Library
Date Published: 1952
Description: Fair. Hardcover with dust jacket. Dust jacket shows significant edgewear, soiling, foxing, and spine sun-fading. Hardcover shows light wear and soiling to edges, corners and spine tips. Spine of hardcover has slight sunning, as well. Edge of pages is mildly foxed. Front endpaper has notation from previous owner, no other pen or pencil markings. Pages are very lightly sunned to edges. Text block is shaken, front hinge is weakened, binding is intact. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: The Modern Library, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1933
Description: Very Good. No Jacket. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. Pages are clean. No markings in book. Cover corners and edges are unmarred. Binding is tight. Boards are faded. Spine is square. 395 pages. Former owner's name inside front cover. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Modern Library, New York
Date Published: 1925
Description: Book: Good. 12mo. 395 pp. 4 7/8 x 7 1/8. Red cloth covered boards, stamped in green and gold on front and spine. Binding is slightly loose at inner front hinge. Light wear at head and foot of spine, corners. No dj. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Albert & Charles Boni, N. Y, N.Y.
Date Published: 1933
Description: Good in No jacket. DJ is missing. Edges slightly sunned. Corners of covers slightly bumped. Residue of sticker on first end page. Interior clean and unmarked. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Modern Library
Date Published: 1993
ISBN-13:9780679600282ISBN:0679600280
Description: Good. Used item may show library stamps, stickers and marks. Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
"*notes* I've marked that this review contains spoilers, but to be clear: it contains major spoilers. Proceed at your own risk.
I'd hate for this review to get overly long and look like, well, a Proustian review of Proust, so I will try to keep this brief.
It took me over a month to complete this book, but it had nothing to do with its quality. I started a new job and had less time to read and I took some time to watch some movies that I've been meaning to see. But then again, this was not an easy novel to get through in itself: the middle 300 pages or so gets extremely repetitive at times, and you definitely feel that most of the novels few thousand characters pop up here, whether in conversation or in person. But of course, this is all part of the game, and it's easy to quickly figure out what Proust is doing with it. It's not that this section of the book is bad; it's just difficult at times to remember which room Marcel is in, whom he's speaking to, what time of day it is, etc., especially after a four-page digression on painting or poetry or flowers or whatever. But these pages are still full of Proust's epic similes, his humor, and just the best writing you'll ever find (even in translation).
What does this add to the whole of "In Search of Lost Time"? It adds to an overall sense of disappointment. As soon as we got out of the safety of Combray in the first book, nothing has really worked out for Marcel. The church at Balbec was meh, Bergotte was a fraud, Berma was unimpressive, Gilberte dumped him, and Albertine wouldn't let him get any. What happens in this book? Oh, nothing much: his grandmother dies, all of the salons he is dying to get into are full of sons-of-bitches and snobby women, the Guermantes mystique turns out to be a complete sham, the Baron de Charlus is just plain creepy, and--worst of all--when Swann finally reappears at the end of the book and we all get excited to see him again, we find out that he is dying. I don't think the totality of "In Search..." is going to end with an overall existentialist feeling of "Nothing is really real, nothing has any meaning" or anything like that. But so far, this is just how it's feeling. It's a little disheartening, of course, but that's just the way it is.
Without a doubt, though, I am looking forward to continuing with Proust sometime soon."
"This series is the gift that keeps on giving. In Guermantes Way, Marcel finds himself in the deceptively shallow world of the Paris salons, where he hobnobs with the likes of the Duc and Duchesse of Guermantes and all their snobby friends. I can't quite explain why a book that seems on the surface to be about such superficial things as social status and wardrobes and one's likes and dislikes in art and culture, how such a premise could reveal totally mind-blowing insights about human beings and the way they work and politics and life and death. Marcel is growing up, coming into his own, developing a persona that the upper echelons of society are quiet curious about as well, as evidenced by his presence in their exclusive worlds. The last 70 pages were a bit like reading the yellow pages of who's who in turn of the century Paris, ie mind-numbingly boring. But then, true to Proust, the last 5 pages of the book revealed a delicious little detail that will surely be explored further in Part 4."
"Proust would both love and hate social networking -- Facebook, Twitter, etc. It would be the answer to his prayers (and would not have necessitated the writing of this opus):
Each of our actions, our words, our attitudes is cut off from the "world," from the people who have not directly perceived it, by a medium the permeability of which is infinitely variable and remains unknown to ourselves; having learned from experience that some important utterance which we eagerly hoped would be disseminated (such as those so enthusiastic speeches which I used at one time to make to everyone and at every opportunity on the subject of Mme Swann, thinking that among so many scattered seeds one at least would germinate) had at once, often because of our very anxiety, been hidden under a bushel, how immeasurably less do we suppose that some tiny word which we ourselves have forgotten, which may not even have been uttered by us but formed along its way by the imperfect refraction of a different word, could be transported, without every being halted in its progress, infinite distances -- in the present instance to the Princesse de Guemantes -- and succeed in diverting at our expense the banquet of the gods! What we remember of our conduct remains unknown to our nearest neighbor; what we have forgotten that we ever said, or indeed what we never did say, flies to provoke hilarity in another planet....
I was so excited to finish Volume III! Our hero did have to go to some excruciating social events, but that was part of the point -- he had so looked forward to fraternizing with these people (for hundreds and hundreds of pages!) he had heretofore thought untouchable, and then they were just... more of the same. And so funny: after recounting the chatter in such detail, he ends one episode by saying he had scarcely listened to the conversation b/c it wasn't his definition of pleasure....
He can be super self-aware at times, like when he describes friendship as being necessarily mediocre, but acknowledging that this characterization is selfishly cynical. Such a sad man, and as my friend Harry says, one with perhaps no sense of humor but a deep sense of irony. The jury's still out for me.
So awesome when he describes genealogy -- both how it shows up physically and socially -- helping make history knowable. And I love the idea of art progressing like science. Art and literature. Even if it's not true. The most touching part for me was the part about his grandmother (no spoilers here!) and guilt he associated with his treatment of her. Even the poignancy of a telephone conversation he has with her.
I've just started Volume IV, and boy does it start out juicy! Sodom and Gomorrah, indeed!
Jessica, I really appreciate your inspiration. You keep me going. You and Marcel."
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