One month ago (I wrote this text on the 22nd of June, 2024), I had a crisis in reading Proust.
The truth is that I’ve been reading Marcel Proust’s “In Search Of A Lost Time” since the middle of August 2023. In the middle of May 2024, undoubtedly, I had a crisis in reading Proust. I try to read forty pages each weekend. Not always did I manage to accomplish this task, but most of the weekends between August 2023 and May 2024, I managed to read forty pages of Proust’s masterpiece. Even in the middle of May, when I wanted to read something else (for example, Taschen, Phaidon, or Thames and Hudson books about art), I read Proust. Still, I noticed I did not do it with the delight I had earlier. There was a moment while reading Proust where describing connections and dependencies between characters in the novel was simply too dull for me.
I believe my crisis resulted in an intensive period in my office job and the need to diversify my lectures.
Fortunately, I didn’t let this crisis deter me. I managed to overcome it, a testament to my resilience and determination. While writing this post, I must admit I have ended up reading the fourth volume, “Sodom and Gomorrah.” I cannot wait to read the last three volumes. The truth ist that I think I won’t manage to do it within the next two months, so for today, I can assume reading “In Search Of A Lost Time” will take me longer than one year. I think it is not a bad result, considering I did not exclude the possibility of reading Proust during my whole lifetime.
The impact of Proust’s work on my life has been profound.
It has not only enriched my understanding of literature but also influenced my approach to my way of writing. Do all these things mean I read only Proust? No. After reading forty pages each weekend, I am switching to reading Taschen books in English (I read Proust in my native language, Polish).
