Bloggery

Monday 17th Jun 2013

Lucinda Corby

Proust Support Group: Wed 5th June

Proust Support Group Wednesday 5^th June – Volume III The Way by Guermantes Part I

Here we are, back again with our French guide to the salons of early 20^th Century Paris. Having started to suspect at the end of Volume II that our narrator’s version of events have a certain duality to them – we are simultaneously aware both of his point of view but also how he is seen by others, we are convinced now that far from being seen as a man of great sensitivity and philosophical understanding, he is a mass of contradictions and eccentricities. Some of the reflections of himself as seen through the eyes of others are far from complimentary!

We begin with his family moving home, into a flat at the Hotel Guermantes. Guermantes for Proust, however, is a name that cannot be left unexplored. His myriad associations with the word and the fact that he develops an obsessive interest in his friend Saint Loup’s aunt, the Madame de Guermantes, means that his address conjures all sorts of memories and superficial ideas of heritage and class.

Early on in Part I, the narrator goes to visit (unannounced) Saint Loup at his army barracks. Here, we get some external information on how the Proust character is perceived. Saint Loup seems happy to indulge his friend’s ‘weak physical and mental health’, suggesting all sorts of ways that his friend’s stay can be less traumatic. He dines with Saint Loup’s fellow officers and it is here that there is an obvious schism between how the narrator thinks he is seen, and how he is actually received. On page 96, Saint Loup is trying desperately to extricate himself from the narrator’s company, whilst still appearing to be keen to have him around. Saint Loup tells him that he has to go on a march – the narrator suggests he comes to the parade ground, Saint Loup counters with the idea that catching up on sleep might be a better idea because then he will be refreshed for dinner later that evening…the narrator sends messages requesting that Saint Loup call in on him at the hotel he is staying at (a considerable way from the barracks). In short, it would appear that his presence disrupts his friend’s life. And yet, Saint Loup indulges him. There must be a reason!

 After (supposedly) catching the eye of the duchess, Mme de Guermantes at the theatre, the narrator contrives to cross her path at every opportunity. He enlists the help of Saint Loup to try and get an invitation to her house (and Saint Loup draws the line at giving Proust a photograph of her: ‘No - I should have to ask her permission first’ [p111])

There is a great deal of insight into the fashionable Paris salons in Part I – not least around on e of the contemporary hot potatoes of the day, the incarceration of a Jewish soldier (Dreyfus) on a charge of spying for the Germans. Interestingly, the political debate surrounding the ‘Dreyfus affair’ appears to divide the room – those sympathetic to Dreyfus are seen as agitators and modernisers, whilst those who side with the (possibly corrupt) state, are perceived as wishing to preserve tradition and also showing signs of anti-semitism. Proust allows us to see these arguments, but through the eyes of his narrator, we have to pick out the debate from the myriad of commentary around how each person speaks (whether they use proper language and grammar) and how their standing in society is seen dictating their views. He appears to miss the importance of the some of the issues Dreyfus’ incarceration: how state corruption allows an innocent man to suffer, whilst the true traitor is airbrushed out because he seemed to be a model Frenchman; the idea that authority figures should act to preserve their standing even at the cost of justice and decency; the idea that those in power and the aristocratic hierarchy has proved itself unfit for purpose.

We end the section with typical self aborption: Saint Loup forces his grandmother to accompany him on a walk (we had been told right at the beginning of Volume III that the house move was mainly due to his grandmother’s failing health) and she has a stroke – he appears not to notice until her symptoms become unavoidable.

In terms of readability, the level of reported dialogue as opposed to internal monologue meant the most people have enjoyed reading this section – there is a lot of humour emerging too. Proust is still able to bring the reader up short (when Saint Loup slaps a journalist who has been taunting him about the behaviour of Saint Loup’s mistress, the friends of the journalist are too embarrassed to do anything except pretend the incident never occurred. The scene is funny but also awful, because the intimation is that someone of Saint Loup’s society standing can get away with violent behaviour).

Next Meeting (up to page 482 in the Vintage edition) is at 6:45pm in The Salamander, on Wednesday 25^th June