ISYGF, Chapter 7: Eyes on the road, Marcel! Eyes on the motherfucking road!
Gah! He's at it again! I swear, every time I let my guard down, even if it's just for a split second, he figures out a way to slip in another little bombe guaranfrickinteed to make my spleen twist. On page 81, he's talking about his eponymous main character's being introduced into the world of Mme. Swann (formerly Odette "La Boum Boum" de Crecy) and he describes her tone as she speaks to him as being "reminiscent of the mincing tyranny of Mme. Verdurin."
Okay, now here's the deal: Mme. Verdurin figured prominently in the "Swann in Love" section of Swann's Way. But. "Swann in Love" was, essentially, an aside to the story, a departure from the first-person narrative of the rest of the book and told from the perspective of a much older Marcel, who had learned all of Swann's sad tale (boy meets skank, boy becomes skank's bitch, boy loses skank, and then mysteriously marries skank after the longest gestation period in the history of humankind) at some point long past the point where the narrative had last left off. Mme. Verdurin hasn't appeared at all Young Girls so far.
What I'm saying is that our hero Marcel has yet to meet Mme. Verdurin. He has no knowledge of her whatsoever. And this sentence--this entire passage--is told from young Marcel's perspective. So how the fuck can he find Mme. Swann's tone of voice to be "reminiscent" of someone he's never met?
I mean, jaysus! It wouldn't have been that hard to keep the narrative continuity going; all he had to do was insert a little something like, "...in tones I would later recognize as the mincing tyranny of Mme. Verdurin." (And, okay, let's take a breather for just a moment to give our boy props for "mincing tyranny." That's pretty sweet, I have to admit.) And it's not like Proust isn't capable of doing this, when he bothers to remember. When he first introduces the name of Albertine, he remembers linear chronology enough to make note of the fact that Marcel would come to find that name significant, but hasn't yet. Of course, being Proust, he has to pour about a gallon of foreshadowing over the whole thing--seriously, if the technology had been available for him to have the word Albertine flare up into tiny little flames as you read it, I'm sure he would have dropped the francs to make it happen. (Yes, I realize that makes it sound like the technology to make print burst into flames currently does exist, but I've looked that sentence over three times now, and grammatically, it holds together. But wouldn't it be cool? Letters of fire? I tell you what, as soon as they get the technology up and running, I am so printing my resume in that shit. I mean, yeah, a little impractical, what with the possibility of burning your enclosed clips, not to mention your potential employer's hands, but dude: Your resume's on fire! Hell yes!)
And before anyone (also: business cards!)... ahem. And before anyone rushes to defend Proust all "he's got a new form and linear logic isn't his bag etc etc," I would like to remind everyone of one important fact: This book is about two things... time and memory. So if there's one thing Proust might want to pay attention to keeping straight in his opus, it's... do you see where I'm going with this?
I won't write you a ticket this time, M. Proust. But you've been warned.
Okay, now here's the deal: Mme. Verdurin figured prominently in the "Swann in Love" section of Swann's Way. But. "Swann in Love" was, essentially, an aside to the story, a departure from the first-person narrative of the rest of the book and told from the perspective of a much older Marcel, who had learned all of Swann's sad tale (boy meets skank, boy becomes skank's bitch, boy loses skank, and then mysteriously marries skank after the longest gestation period in the history of humankind) at some point long past the point where the narrative had last left off. Mme. Verdurin hasn't appeared at all Young Girls so far.
What I'm saying is that our hero Marcel has yet to meet Mme. Verdurin. He has no knowledge of her whatsoever. And this sentence--this entire passage--is told from young Marcel's perspective. So how the fuck can he find Mme. Swann's tone of voice to be "reminiscent" of someone he's never met?
I mean, jaysus! It wouldn't have been that hard to keep the narrative continuity going; all he had to do was insert a little something like, "...in tones I would later recognize as the mincing tyranny of Mme. Verdurin." (And, okay, let's take a breather for just a moment to give our boy props for "mincing tyranny." That's pretty sweet, I have to admit.) And it's not like Proust isn't capable of doing this, when he bothers to remember. When he first introduces the name of Albertine, he remembers linear chronology enough to make note of the fact that Marcel would come to find that name significant, but hasn't yet. Of course, being Proust, he has to pour about a gallon of foreshadowing over the whole thing--seriously, if the technology had been available for him to have the word Albertine flare up into tiny little flames as you read it, I'm sure he would have dropped the francs to make it happen. (Yes, I realize that makes it sound like the technology to make print burst into flames currently does exist, but I've looked that sentence over three times now, and grammatically, it holds together. But wouldn't it be cool? Letters of fire? I tell you what, as soon as they get the technology up and running, I am so printing my resume in that shit. I mean, yeah, a little impractical, what with the possibility of burning your enclosed clips, not to mention your potential employer's hands, but dude: Your resume's on fire! Hell yes!)
And before anyone (also: business cards!)... ahem. And before anyone rushes to defend Proust all "he's got a new form and linear logic isn't his bag etc etc," I would like to remind everyone of one important fact: This book is about two things... time and memory. So if there's one thing Proust might want to pay attention to keeping straight in his opus, it's... do you see where I'm going with this?
I won't write you a ticket this time, M. Proust. But you've been warned.
posted by shutupproust at 3:45 PM
<< Home