My take on Proust's "Combray"

 One of the most enjoyable aspects of this reading was the tone that the narrator told the story in. Proust used expressive and complex language. He uses involuntary memory as a method to capture his readers attention. It was interesting to see his opinions and beliefs play out within the characters of his story. 

This week's reading was interesting, however, I felt as though I did not understand some of the themes and only recognized a few constants. I found difficulty in following the plot as it did not seem there was much guidance for the readers. 

One interesting theme was the way Proust described the setting of the story, specifically the church. It was very obvious that Proust adores the architecture of the church he imagined. He was fascinated with churches throughout France and Italy as depicted in his writings. 

A very prominent theme in the novel was Marcel's relationship with his mother and the effect that has on him. Marcel has anxiety surrounding his relationship with his mother as she seems to emotionally distress her son (also a little Oedipus seeming). Not only were there tensions between him and his mother, Marcel had a very manipulative relationship with his father (This poor guy cannot catch a break). There is a lot of exploration surrounding the theme of familial relationships and the impacts that they have on people. 

Another theme that stuck out to me was that of escaping reality through literature. Marcel reads so much that his fantasy world begins to feel more real to him than the outside world in which he lives. He cannot leave his fantasy world as it protects him from his experiences in the real world. Marcel observes people from the outside and learns behaviours that way. In turn, this does not help him accurately gauge behaviour of people. He is able to fantasize about women and create imagined and idealized versions of them for his writings. This feels a bit gross to read considering Marcel places a lot of a woman's worth on her appearance and will romanticize them until he deems them attractive. 

Marcel's imaginary women are very harmful to the way women are perceived by readers. Throughout history women were valued based on their appearance and Marcel only repeats this. Women written by men are often objectified and used only to advance the growth of a male lead. 

Overall, I did not enjoy this reading that much but I am excited for future readings. I struggled while reading it but felt as though I was able to grasp a few main themes. 


Comments

  1. Jennifer Nagtegaal17 January 2022 at 16:33

    Hi Madi! I see you have managed to touch on some of these "few constants," as you say, that you were able to pick up on in the reading. Just a reminder to include at least one question in each blog post (one that you need not answer, but of course you may!). These questions will be used to shape the in-class discussions.

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  2. Pliego17 January 2022 at 19:11

    Hi Madi.
    I did not enjoyed this reading that much as well. because I too struggled a bit with it. Hopefully next reading will be a little more easier to understand and follow.

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