"Swann's Way," Book 1 of "In Search of Lost Time" by Marcel Proust (Translated by Lydia Davis)
March 25, 2023
An older gentleman (who is my age now) came into the bookstore Book Soup, where at the time, I worked behind the sales counter. He mentioned that he read the recently and newly translated version of Marcel Proust’s Swann’s Way, by Lydia Davis, as one of the most profound reads of his life. He told me only ‘aged’ people could get into this book. That stayed with me for years because, as a young man, I read an old translated version of the Proust novel, and it didn’t do anything for me. Now that I’m an older (gentle)man, I can appreciate this first volume of a seven-part novel, In Search of Lost Time.
I can now understand that one must have a couple of intense (or at least one) sexual/love obsessions and notice time passing, and nothing we can do about it. Also, approaching and being in the middle of middle-aged angst, one questions their life and how they wasted their precious (now aware of) time. So, the best time to read In Search of Lost Time is somewhere between 50 and 95 years old. A young adult novel, this isn’t it! With that on my mind, I read volume 1, Swann’s Way, a psychedelic experience. I identify with the main character Charles Swann because of his love/disgust for society and his fixation on Odette de Crécy. Swann is among a class of people, but he is also not accepted into the ranks because he’s Jewish. His single-mindedness in obtaining the love, or what he perceives of that emotion, of Odette, is fascinating. Proust can span a moment into a maximum landscape of feelings, scents, and observations. Swann’s obsession with Odette thoroughly investigates the nature of loving a being. Still, slowly, like peeling a juicy orange, he forgets about the girl herself and focuses on the nature of love. He (the author and Swann) spends a great deal of time discovering that it is more about the sensation and sensual aspect of heightened emotions, which is more attractive than Odette. Emotional S&M takes place, with or without the love subject, which is totally on Swann’s shoulders, not Odette's.
Reading the book makes me reflect on my life in a relationship and realize that I enjoyed the ‘torture’ of such intense thoughts and desires that, after a while, I realized it wasn’t due to the girl but my thoughts on that individual. I slowly realized that I didn’t love her at all, and it was totally about me thinking that I loved her. It was a total ah-ha moment for me when I became aware of this. That lasted a second, but through the sensuality of Proust, that mere fleeting second becomes twelve pages or so. As a young person diving into the pool of feelings, I wouldn’t have the patience or inside knowledge to understand Proust’s writings. Now, as an older man, I get it, and getting it feels like I got hit by a hammer as if I’m in a Tom & Jerry cartoon.
The construction of Swann’s Way is so beautifully put together, and with the added skills and artistry of the translator Lydia Davis, it’s a remarkable journey. At first, I thought it was ironic that Davis translated such a significant maximum type of literature. Still, she is a writer who can write a minimal sentence with maximum meaning. She’s perfect, and I would recommend fans of her short stories read this translation. It’s unthinkable that a writer would pass up on reading this book because one can learn many things, such as the inner voice of the novel and how Proust uses the unnamed Narrator to tell the tale, but with piled-on imagery that is on a level of magick. It’s about awareness than imitating or commenting on Proust’s writing, which is mindblowing.
I am really in love with the way Lydia Davis writes, and I am also full of admiration for this translation. Her translation approach brings the text alive, which for me, was absent in the other, previous translation (forgive me, I forget the name of the translator, but use to have a copy). Others I know, including some reputable readers and publishers, prefer that one better. They read this presumably in their youth. There is nostalgia in that. But I don't find room in Proust for my nostalgia. I agree, these books may be appreciated in a more profound way as you get older. There are so many reasons. As long as we have, though, academic programs that attack great literature like a box of chocolates that must be consumed quickly, this issue will remain.
I too have read the old translation that was the only translation for such a long time. I haven’t gotten around to Lydia Davis one but I admire her writing so much that I must read it. I’m not 95 yet but 85 ought to be sufficient. Thanks Tosh!