Proust 2000!
The Laughing Man (the_laughing_man@hotmail.com)
Thu, 02 Dec 1999 11:55:29 +0000 (GMT)
I’ll try to refrain from exclaiming too many of my eventual Eureka’s (or, on
the other hand, feelings of complete boredom from those 10 consecutive pages
of describing a church) in the fish pond, but I’d like to give you all a
semi-supported chance to start up the new millenium the right way: by
reading Proust.
Starting January 1, a group of natural science misfits, a group of which I
happen to be a member, have decided to read Proust’ “Remembrance of Things
Past” at a pace of 10 pages a day, which will allow us to finish the entire
series in less than a year (approx. 3500 pages in total). Many of us have
tried on our own, perhaps even finishing volume 3 before other aspects of
the outside life took over and it was impossible to start over again. Others
have reached only the famous Madeleine cookie scene at page 30-ish, volume
one, finally realizing why ever one knows that one.
We realized the task of actually keeping the pace though 3500 pages on our
own was all but impossible in this modern time. Too many excuses, too little
discipline. But united we are strong! So (at least) once every month we will
meet, discussing or sharing articles we have found or maybe looking at Monty
Python’s “Marcel Proust Summarisation Contest”. We have our reading scheme,
so we know how far we can expect the group to have reached. So we can do
just the right cocktail mingling with others injected with the same dose of
Proust.
Well, we don’t expect every member to actually read through it all. But we
do expect to try. So if anyone here don’t know what to ask for Christmas, a
present just so hard and heavy we used to like it when we were kids, can be
reality.
The more, the merrier! So think about it, fellow fishes. Can’t promise you
quality time in front of the local VCR, but emotional support none the less.
And maybe an invitation for the big “We did it!”-Party in December 2000.
Read it already? Well, some things are even better the second time. No risk
of dipping our Proust too many time in the tea, anyway...
/The Proust Wannabe Man
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