I have been engrossed in Marcel Proust’s novel, “In Search of Lost Time,” since mid-August 2023.
As of now (I am writing this text on the 7th of June, 2024), I have delved into more than half of the entire work. I am currently navigating the fourth (out of seven) volume, “Sodom and Gomorrah,” and finding myself in a minor reading crisis. The book, while containing truly excellent fragments, has started to bore me. These fragments, which I find particularly captivating, are the parts of the novel that span from a few to several dozen pages. They are the reason I am determined to finish the novel.
Nevertheless, the multitude of characters, plots, and descriptions of relations prevailing in the salons of France at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries is sometimes tedious for me.
I feel like sometimes taking a break from reading Proust’s novel and reading something else on some weekends (I usually read 40 pages over the weekend). Nevertheless, I mainly want to be persistent and read the whole thing without taking breaks. I am close to certain that after a 2-3 week break in reading, I would never return to this reading again because I would forget too many details necessary to follow the plot. The thought of not finishing this novel after investing so much time and effort is disheartening.
Of course, after reading “In Search of Lost Time,” on weekends, I usually read other books, mainly Taschen, Phaidon, or Thames and Hudson books, about broadly defined art and culture. I read Marcel Proust’s novel in my native language, Polish. I read books about art by the abovementioned publishers in English to have constant contact with this language. For today, even though I had a crisis regarding reading Proust from the middle of May until the beginning of June, I still hope to read this masterpiece in its entirety. Keep your fingers crossed for me, my Dear Friend, when reading Marcel Proust’s novel.
