Swann in Love with a Fool

Hello, everyone!

I have been reading, reading, reading! Yesterday I took a long reading-walk, 2.6 miles and reading the whole time. It was really fun, and I had looked forward to another one today, until I woke up and heard how much it was raining. I even read a little in the theatre while waiting for the new Batman movie to start! 

I have finally reached new territory in Swann's Way, having passed the point where I stopped last time. I understand why I once got bored; the second section, Swann in Love, often seems more tedious than the first section, even though, ironically, it has more of a plot. The narrator from Combray, sensitive and imaginative, is not telling us about his childhood anymore but about a love affair that happened before he was even born: a love affair between M. Swann and his future wife, Odette. Swann does not find her attractive or intelligent; she is a coquette and a liar, though a bad one, and Swann even remembers hearing rumors of her being a courtesan. And yet, whatever faults she may have, be they physical failings or weakness of character, Swann finds himself unable to shake off his love for her. He sees in her resemblances to a painting of Boticelli he admires and, being a man who respects the arts, thinks that validates his love for her. 

For the first part of their relationship, the two meet mostly at the nightly dinners held by the Verdurins, an annoying bourgeoisie couple who invite the same people over and over in hopes of making sure that those people, referred to as the faithful, never leave them for company with more class and culture (of which M. and Mme. Verdurin have little). Eventually Odette's coquetry finds a new subject, a man who takes Swann's place as a faithful, but Swann does not give up his love for her. By this point two years have passed, and Swann has difficulty seeing Odette as often as he likes and used to. 

So, yes, perhaps some aspects of this section do wear on me, like seeing Swann act a fool for a fool of a woman, as well as the ridiculous conversations that go down at the Verdurin dinner parties. But, really, even these things have their merit, and the writing is no less impressive as in the section Combray; the sentences are still designed to perfection. Proust continues to shows his understanding of the mind as Swann's otherwise inexplicable love for Odette is explained through impressive insights into Swann's mind. Swann is truly a believable character, for Proust fills him with the complexities and contradictions that can only be found in the minds and personalities of every one of us.

I still haven't gotten back to The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, but I haven't forgotten it! I have some happy news for myself though: NEW BOOKS (as if I need more...)! I got the sequel to Swann's Way, In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower, as well as the sequel to Michael Cox's The Meaning of Night, The Glass of Time. I have a long list of books I need to read that I will be hard pressed to get through by the end of summer:
-In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower, Proust
-The Glass of Time, Cox
-Shōgun, Clavell
-Run, Anne Patchett (I loved her book Bel Canto, which I read a long, long time ago, and I also enjoyed The Patron Saint of Liars, so when my mom read Run and was obsessed, I knew I had to read it)
-Ulysses, Joyce (I don't have high hopes of getting through it all, but I can't wait to try)
-Gravity's Rainbow, Pynchon (after getting to know Pynchon better with V. and Against the Day, I want to try this novel again) 

Till next time, readers :)