- Hardcover: 496 pages
- Publisher: Viking USA
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 067003245X
- ISBN-13: 978-0670032457
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.9 x 3.9 cm
- Shipping Weight: 812 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #849,205 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Most helpful customer reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Duelling Translations,
By
This review is from: Swanns Way (Hardcover)
Those of us who love Proust - either from long acquaintance, or from reading him for the very first time - can count ourselves fortunate in now having two very fine English translations to work from: the classic Moncrieff/Kilmartin rendition of the complete novel, and the new Lydia Davis translation of "Swann's Way." I've read and enjoyed both, because each brings something special and valuable to the work.Davis is a breath of fresh air, being more literal (while still literary!) in that she follows the original French syntax and meaning more closely. I liked her translation, and applaud it. Normally, such a fine translation would be my first choice. However - and I admit this is a very subjective judgement - I was long ago seduced by the sheer beauty of Moncrieff/Kilmartin, and therefore cannot love the Davis translation quite so much. Of all authors, Proust requires us to surrender to the beauty of his language. Davis' translation is, for me, more likeable than loveable. Really, it's an old (and impossible to resolve!) conflict between the more literal and the more "poetic" type of translation. I've dealt with this myself, in trying to translate Baudelaire, and there's no perfect answer. One thing I'd suggest (if you haven't read MK) is to get the MK translation of Swann's Way, now available in a very inexpensive paperback, along with Davis so that you can get a feel for both ways of appreciating Proust's great and magnificent work.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rewarding, but not an easy undertaking,
By Randy Kirkpatrick (Lake Forest, Illinois) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Swanns Way (Hardcover)
Obviously, Swann's Way is a classic piece of literature, one of the most vital works of fiction of the 20th Century. The prose, whether in the original French or in the beautifully translated English, is lush, evocative and deliriously prolix--from the moment the narrator takes a bite of that famous pastry, the reader is swept up into a world so tangibly realized and, at the same time, so hallucinatory in its lushness that he or she cannot fail to be drawn in, quite despite the fact that there's not much of a "plot" to carry the thing along. Instead, we are given intimate access to the minds of Swann, Odette and Proust himself and they are unbelievably fascinating people--so complex, so "real" that one is actually quite sorry when the book ends. Which brings me to my main point: Don't stop here. If Swann's Way is the most famous volume in the monumental "In Search of Lost Time" series, it is not necessarily the best. It is, in fact, something of an extended prologue to the later books, gracefully and movingly setting the scene for the far more dramatic twists and turns that will culminate in the mind-blowing final volume "Time Regained." While Swann's Way is a most compelling and satisfying read on its own, you'll miss out on so much beauty, drama and passion if you don't follow up and read through the full series, rich as it is with intrigue, consuming love, staggering insights into the human mind and outright entertainment value. So, Swann's Way is a must read, but one has to come to it realizing that the end of the novel is only the beginning of Proust's enormous, all-consuming magnum opus. No one will tell you that committing to Proust's fictional world is a slight undertaking, but it is a deeply rewarding one and a required one for all serious readers.
2 of 11 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Another classic disappointment...,
By Booksvixen "The Vixen of ALL the Books" (San Frantastic, CA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Swanns Way (Hardcover)
This is the "Seinfeld" of literature: a long, drawn-out narrative about *nothing*. There are, however, other infinitely more enjoyable books that deal with memories and non-linear time. In my opinion, if a person is going to write a 3,000+ page self-reflective epic, he better be an interesting person, and this narrator is simply not one. At least not on any page of this introductory volume. Maybe he becomes interesting in a subsequent volume, but this one does not inspire me to attempt to find this out. I can appreciate the fact that this work was revolutionary in Proust's time, but I submit that in ours, it is more of a cure for insomnia than the literary masterpience it is cracked up to be.
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