In Search of Lost Time, Volume II: Within a Budding Grove (A Modern Library E-Book) by Marcel Proust (EPUB)

Description

Within a Budding Grove received the Prix Goncourt when it was published in 1919 and catapulted its author to overnight fame. It takes the autobiographical narrator of Swann’s Way from childhood through adolescence. He loses interest in Gilberte and falls in love with Albertine, the dark girl on her bicycle, with ‘that little beauty spot on her cheek, just under the eye.’ Albertine, her friends, and the fictional Normandy resort of Balbec become the primary agents of recollection for him. The final volume of a new, definitive text of A la recherche du temps perdu was published by the Bibliotheque de la Pleiade in 1989. For this authoritative English-language edition, D. J. Enright has revised the late Terence Kilmartin’s acclaimed reworking of C. K. Scott Moncrieff’s translation to take into account the new French editions.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐MODERN LIBRARY EDITION (compared to the newer version) I started off reading the newer Penguin versions of In Search of Lost Time (it even had a work-wide title at first.) Volume I was interesting and not bad, but when it came to volume II, I read it then quickly purchased the Moncrieff tranlation of the very same volume because I wanted to enjoy it rather than simply read words that had similar meanings.The Modern Library version is immeasurably better. It may be old, even dated, but it sings and the Penguin edition simply doesn’t in volume II. I’ll work on Volume III this summer, and I’ve decided to not bother with trying the Penguin translation after the trying exercise that was Penguin’s volume II.Bottom line: this Modern Library translation may be old news, but there is a very good reason it’s the most widely read English version — it’s just better.

⭐Volume 3 of 12 of proust’s Remembrance of things past is another great example of beautiful literature. In this volume Proust’s leaves the innocence of boyhood and ventures forth towards young adulthood. His relationship with young Gilberte grows and eventually he falls in love with the pretty thing. Alas however there are problems and the narrator must face the fact that Gilberte will never be the one for him. All the while Proust’s writes of Madame Swann the much talked about woman with a shady past. Though the mother of Gilberte the narrator paints her as a vision of beauty and grace. He is captivated by her as well and in one charming passage describes in great detail a spring coat she is wearing on one of her walks where in it he finds treasures and scents like no other. the reader can feel the coat as it is being described such a writer is Proust. this volume ends with Proust arriving at Balbec with his grandmother and observing the Hypocrisy around him. It is quite comical for no one is spared and each class at that time viewed the other with suspicion and disdain. I was quite disappointed when the last CD was through but I have already ordered volume 4. Naxos has done an excellent job in bringing to life Proust’s masterpiece and I can’t wait to listen to all 12 volumes. I will savor them however ordering one every so often just to excite my anticipation a bit more. this book contains 3 CDs and includes musical breaks between the reading.

⭐This Modern Library paperback version of “Within A Budding Grove” has poor formatting. One character will say something in dialogue, and the second person’s response is lined up within the same paragraph as is the first character is still speaking, making the book, at times, difficult to understand. The first time it happened I figured it was a singular typo in a book over 400 pages, but the second time it happened I was like “whaatt? No editor?” I wish I had found a different version. I have no problem with the translation otherwise.

⭐So you finished Swann’s Way and you want to continue on? That brings us to Volume II, Within a Budding Grove. Reality never lives up to expectations for our dear narrator. But his trip to Balbec with grandma is not without its fruits, so many young girls of flower, a new friend (Robert de Saint Loup) and encounters with the strange Baron de Charlus all contribute to his development. The translation by Moncrieff, amended by Kilmartin and Enright is sublime.

⭐We pick up here, in this second volume of the larger *In Search of Lost Time* with Proust’s un-named protagonist at about age 15. He longs for the affections of his childhood sweetheart, the lovely Gilberte, who now accommodates his frequent visits with more overt enthusiasm… but it’s all superficial and the young man’s interest in her begins to wane. He maintains relations with her opulent and often odious mother, Odette, and he still reveres her father, M. Swann, but he hits upon the concept of searching elsewhere for his notion of female companionship.At this juncture, there’s not a tremendous contrast between our youthful protagonist and Salinger’s Holden Caulfield in the latter’s own early days in

⭐. But it’s clear that Proust’s protagonist’s character is not quite so clinically flawed as that of Holden, (who appeared many years later.)The break is eventually made with Gilberte, more a process of osmosis than that of open conflict. And it’s opportune for the young man that his mother, perpetually over-concerned for his frail health, launches him off to Balbec for a summer of vacationing along the southern coast, ostensibly so he can also pursue his unquenchable emphatuation with mouldering church frescoes. It’s there, while residing in a resort hotel, that he encounters a band of giggling adolescent girls on the nearby beach. It takes him an agonizingly long period of time to eventually come to know them but he ultimately does, chiefly through the aid of a close friend of noble heritage [Saint Loup] and a venerable mentor, an elderly artist of notable fame [M. Bloch]. From here his relationship with two of the girls develops, but not necessarily as he anticipates.Along the social roller coaster of his life, it becomes clear that this youthfully amourous lad might have seized upon any opportunity for familiar relations with a young lady, even with a gal who was well below his elevated station. At one point at a train stop, he hones in on a peasant girl dispensing milk on the train and his naive fantasies about meeting this unremarkable gal run somewhat amok. But Proust moves him along, allowing the young man to only see her once again at a subsequent venue — and by this time, his initial interest in her has diminished.Between numerous diaphanous episodes of the protagonist, Proust clings to certain themes which he initiated way back in

⭐. The lamentable M. Swann’s circumstance with his wife, Odette (a woman whom a lesser man of the period might have been inclined to throddle), continues to give rise to covert stress, thus:”I’ll tell you who does need a good doctor, and that’s our friend Swann,” said Bergotte. “And on my asking whether he was ill, well, don’t you see, he’s typical of the man who has married a whore, and has to pocket a dozen insults a day from women who refuse to meet his wife or men who have slept with her. Just look, one day when you’re there, at the way he lifts his eyebrows when he comes in, to see who’s in the room.” (Page 199.)Proust employs an infinite conucopia of clever literary devices to capture our interest. For example, he drops a compelling morsel, perhaps a brief description of a lovely girl with whom the protagonist is clearly emphatuated, and then he moves on for a time only to detail a completely unrelated episode — he keeps the reader very hungry that way. We drool for more but we are cut off for precisely an endurable amount of suspense time.In summary, Proust’s lyrical and subtly brilliant prose makes us long for the next tome in his renowned series,

⭐. In the meantime, Volume II, *Within A Budding Grove* garners my highest recommendation.

⭐If you’re looking at reviews of this volume, then I assume you’ve read Swann’s Way and are considering buying more Proust. Within a Budding Grove continues the brilliance of Swann’s Way, applying Proust’s unequaled powers of observation to such experiences as struggling to be with his childhood idol, staying at a seaside resort, glimpsing and ultimately working his way into a clique of teenage girls, developing a friendship with an aristocratic youth, and visiting the studio of a great painter. As with Swann’s Way, you will have frequent “aha!” moments when Proust’s narrator opens your eyes to the previously overlooked drama at your elbow (and within your own mind).

⭐”Within a Budding Grove” is the second volume of, “In Search of Lost Time,” the rambling masterpiece by Marcel Proust. Assuming you are considering this, second volume, you have probably already read volume one, “Swann’s Way.” If not, then please go back and start there – although there is not a `plot’ as such, this is the story of a life and it needs to be read in order. If you enjoyed volume one, then, presumably you are now comfortable with the meandering sentence structure and pace of this work. Indeed, I find these books to be something I like to read late at night, when it is quiet and I can concentrate. Then, Proust’s story telling is almost therapeutic. Try to read this while commuting, when I cannot concentrate fully, and I find I end up having to re-read parts. So, although it may seem to some that `nothing happens’ in this work – indeed, there is a lot going on, often beneath the surface, and it requires the reader to give full attention to what is on the page. There are two main parts in volume two: the first deals with `Madame Swann at Home’ and the second with our narrator’s trip to Balbec with his grandmother and the faithful Francoise.This book begins with the narrator still very much infatuated with Gilberte Swann, daughter of M. Swann and his wife, Odette, who we met in “Swann’s Way.” He is also under pressure to think of some kind of career. His father wishes for him to be a diplomat, but he hates the thought of being ambassador to capitals where there is no Gilberte…. He desires to be a writer, although his father is opposed initially to this plan. However, the main theme of this part of the book is his desire to be introduced to the Swann’s and become a visitor to their home. Mme Swann is a celebrated hostess and much admired, although her background means that his own mother will not receive her personally. So, we have not only his relationship with Gilberte, but her parents, which are central to this part of the book.In the second part of this novel, our narrator goes to Balbec on a trip with his grandmother and portrays life in the Grand Hotel they stay in. Along the way, he meets many new friends, including Robert de Saint-Loup. More importantly, he meets a group of young girls, including Albertine Simonet. The author perfectly captures the cliques and snobbery he encounters, as well as contemplating love, attraction and infatuations. I have read that the third part of this epic novel, “The Guermantes Way,” can be the most difficult volume to read and that it is the book which is likely to stall readers. However, I have not found these novels difficult so far and, with the narrator now on the cusp of adulthood, I look forward to reading the next in the series and hope I will find it as enjoyable as I have found the previous volumes.

⭐The above is, of course, a paraphrase of Marcel’s remark about great writing not necessarily coinciding with zeal.The good news is that Volume 2 of In Search Of Lost Time is much more engaging than its predecessor, despite the similarities. Where in Vol.1 the main was taken up with M. Swann eating his heart out over the behaviour of his lover, the courtesan Odette, her loving indifference and really imagined infidelities (if one may call them that), within the budding grove it is Marcel’s turn to wrack his brains over Odette’s daughter, the charming young Gilberte. The narrator’s visits to the Swann’s residence, his admiration for Madame Swann and her daughter, these take up the first third of the volume; thereafter the novel almost morphs into travel writing, describing Marcel’s vacation at Balbec with his grandmother, their new circle of acquaintance there and the fleeting possibilities of erotic encounters with other holidaymakers.Congratulations on making it past Vol.1 because now you can savour to an even greater degree the wit, the perspicacity of this most observant of authors. The number of passages that will have you nodding with recognition, perhaps a little pained, replete with Proust’s insights into human psychology, are legion; and for the rest, there are his loving evocations of sunlight, depictions of nature, paeans to elegance and charm, delineations of social rank and the manners and follies pertaining to each group at whatever level. If there is one overriding theme to this novel, so far, it appears to be regret. Perhaps regret goes with the territory.On the debit side, there are still countless pages entirely filled by a single paragraph, few convenient places to pause, an obsessive interest in ladies’ fashions which I personally find rather odd, and one can only wonder at just who, if anyone, was Proust’s editor? Sometimes the same, admittedly obsessive, thoughts and ideas – such as when Marcel is cogitating how to rekindle Gilberte’s affection – are repeated and become wearisome. As with Vol.1 I was reminded of a movie, this time Wonder Boys, the one where novelist Michael Douglas’ magnum opus has grown out of control and his attention to detail has become a symptom of an unwilingness to make life decisions. While reading I imagined myself as Proust’s first reader, manuscript in hand as he waited expectantly, crossing the room to embrace him before promptly beating him over the head with it.I don’t know if this kind of imagination really touches upon the human soul, the scenes and social encounters appearing before the eye like moving pictures on a series of exquisitely painted vases. What can’t be denied is that Within A Budding Grove is frequently fascinating, funny, poignant and hugely insightful. Beautifully written even while it is interminable. This kind of writing may have inspired all that stream of consciousness tedium so beloved of the moderns – I’ll have to check my dates – but even if so we must forgive Proust when there’s so much more to be taken from his gargantuan book than there is in the epic obscurities and perverse navel-gazing of Joyce or Woolf.

⭐I haven’t read this yet, but if it is as good as Volume 1 I shall be very satisfied because the translation is excellent, and that is why I have bought it.

⭐Oui oui

⭐

⭐received on time and enjoy the book

Keywords

Free Download In Search of Lost Time, Volume II: Within a Budding Grove (A Modern Library E-Book) in EPUB format
In Search of Lost Time, Volume II: Within a Budding Grove (A Modern Library E-Book) EPUB Free Download
Download In Search of Lost Time, Volume II: Within a Budding Grove (A Modern Library E-Book) 2000 EPUB Free
In Search of Lost Time, Volume II: Within a Budding Grove (A Modern Library E-Book) 2000 EPUB Free Download
Download In Search of Lost Time, Volume II: Within a Budding Grove (A Modern Library E-Book) EPUB
Free Download Ebook In Search of Lost Time, Volume II: Within a Budding Grove (A Modern Library E-Book)