Марсель Пруст — книжные серии

n ultimele pagini din Timpul regasit (publicat in 1927), Proust afirma ca si-a petrecut intreaga viata scriind "aceasta carte esentiala, singura carte adevarata". Asadar, scrierea a ceea ce citim sub titlul In cautarea timpului pierdut nu insemna, pentru el, decat lectura acestei "carti launtrice" - expresia cea mai rafinata a mitului estetizant al vietii intelese ca proiect de conversie ontologica si traite ca opera de arta.

Acest mit organizeaza intr-un chiasm paradoxal si tragic raporturile normale dintre viata si opera, dintre scriere si lectura: existenta, "conceptie" si "gestatie cerebrala", lenta si obscura (conform unui model alchimic conservat ca reziduu gnostic in inconstientul lui Proust), devine "scriere" interna, pe care "opera" o ajuta sa se nasca si sa se desfasoare in deplina evidenta a limbajului prin virtutile unei "lecturi" maieutice. Cornel Mihai Ionescu

„Dintre «tinerele fete in floare» intalnite in statiunea balneara Balbec, Marcel o culege pe Albertine, pentru ca «umbra» ei inseamna pentru el reversul unei aure incandescente si incinerante. Romanele Captiva si Fugara (publicate in 1923 si, respectiv, 1925) renunta la ampla fresca sociologica din volumele anterioare pentru a se consacra analizei psihologice de maxi­ma subtilitate a relatiilor dintre Marcel si Albertine; aceasta traieste o vreme, asemenea unei «prizoniere», in preajma lui, spre a-l parasi mai tarziu, murind departe de el. Intensitatea cu care Marcel retraieste aceasta iubire transforma memoria intr-o forma de exhaustiune a iubirii si intr-un izvor de dubiu si scepticism dizolvant cu privire nu doar la posibilitatea de a cunoaste fiinta iubita, ci chiar la realitatea iubirii ca atare.“ - Cornel Mihai Ionescu

In virtutea unui sumbru paradox, cei salvati de pedeapsa divina a Sodomei si Gomorei, comparati cu Adam si Eva dupa alungarea lor din Eden, sunt singurele fiinte paradisiace, de vreme ce „adevaratele paradisuri sunt cele pierdute“, dupa cum crede Proust. Fara nici un alt ghid decat tropismul, scriitorul avanseaza cu lentoare halucinanta in bolgiile acestui paradis infernal si exploreaza cu minutie de entomolog „rasa acelor fiinte damnate“ care ii populeaza meandrele. Expert in „artele neantului“, baronul de Charlus, in vesnic delir genealogic, bantuie, asemeni unui geniu tutelar, sub privirea plina de stupoare complice a lui „Marcel“, paraginile acestei anti-lumi.
Cornel Mihai Ionescu

"Tribul' tinerelor fete sosite in statiunea balneara de la malul marii, unde se odihnesc naratorul si bunica lui, pare sa fi migrat dintr-o lume stranie si inaccesibila. In ciuda "indraznelii, frivolitatii si cruzimii" lor, fetele ii amintesc tanarului maladiv, "discipol" al estetului Swann, modelele de frumusete senina si nobila a statuilor arse de soare de pe tarmurile Greciei antice. Din "stolul" tinerelor fete in floare, se desprinde Albertine, o prea perversa Nausicaa pentru prea tanarul si timidul Ulise, reincarnat intr-o ipostaza nu tocmai fidela pe plaja normada.

Cornel Mihai Ionescu

Swann (engl. Swan, cu un singur "n" - lebada, emblema heraldica, alchimica si wagneriana) traverseaza dezinvolt vamile care separa si unesc "lumea" lui burgheza de cea a aristocratiei, aprig ravnita din perspective diverse, dar convergente, de snobul, de diletantul si de estetul pe care ii intrupeaza. Incapabil sa se inalte pana la "echilibrul spiritual" al aspectelor frumusetii naturale si estetice pe care o contempla, el se pierde cu voluptate in confuzia tragica dintre arta vietii si viata artei. Cornel Mihai Ionescu

Romanul Guermantes reprezinta cazul exemplar al ma ximei extensii prin care un nume „diafan“ poate emana din sine o „lume“ halucinant de reala si, in consecinta, o grandioasa construct ie narativa („Numele Guermantes era ca un cadru de roman...“) menita sa ilustreze, in chip memorabil, ipoteza cu privire la o anume autonomie a fictiunii. Acest nucleu, in vesnica pulsatie, reprezinta, in acelasi timp, „o ultima iluzie de spulberat“: intr-adevar, numele magic „Guermantes“ se va volatiliza intr-o dimineata spectrala, - „matineul ducelui de Guermantes“, din ultimul roman al ciclului.

Роман "Беглянка" вышел в свет в конце 1925 года посмертно, без окончательных корректировок и изменений автора. Первое издание на основе рукописей было опубликовано под названием "Исчезнувшая Альбертина". В романе на первый план выступают новые фигуры времени - забвение, умирание, каковые становятся своего рода аскезой, непосредственным предуготовлением к творчеству.

Роман "По направлению к Свану" открывает монументальную семитомную эпопею Марселя Пруста "В поисках утраченного времени", которую сам автор сравнивал с готическим собором и которая прочно вошла в число признанных шедевров мировой литературы.

Роман "Под сенью девушек в цвету" (1919) пронизывает ностальгия, но Рассказчик преодолевает ее, обретая истинное Время искусства. На пути к абсолюту герой встречает "девушек в цвету", которые воплощают предельное чувственное искушение, зовут к наслаждению под сенью эфемерной любви.

Роман "Пленница" вышел в свет в 1923 году, уже после смерти писателя. Пятая книга цикла "В поисках утраченного времени" продолжает тему любви, местами в повествовании прорывается тон личного дневника, как никогда прежде сближаются Рассказчик, персонаж и автор.

Роман "Содом и Гоморра", впервые увидевший свет в 1921-1922 годах, стал последним произведением, вышедшим при жизни автора. Идея четвертой книги легендарной эпопеи находится в самом средоточии прустовского замысла, она повествует о моральной деградации светского общества. Частное, скрытое, извращенное превращается в главную тему "Содома и Гоморры", теряя романтический, героический ореол, налет исключительности.

Роман "У Германтов" (1920-1921) - третья часть знаменитой эпопеи М. Пруста. Главный герой этого тома уже прошел через стадию отрочества, в его сознание вторгается время, возраст агонии, его взросление будет сопровождаться отныне знанием смерти, которая ни на миг не прекращает своей тлетворной работы в человеке.

"В сторону Свана" - это первая книга семитомного цикла "В поисках утраченного времени", написанного знаменитым Марселем Прустом.
Книга рассказывает историю зрелого аристократа Свана. Переживая кризис среднего возраста, он погружается в воспоминания о детстве, юности и первой любви.
"В сторону Свана" - не только проникновенное исследование внутреннего мира человека, но и изящный портрет французского общества на рубеже XIX и XX веков.

Since the original, prewar translation there has been no completely new rendering of the French original into English. This translation brings to the fore a more sharply engaged, comic and lucid Proust. In Search of Lost Time is one of the greatest, most entertaining reading experiences in any language. As the great story unfolds from its magical opening scenes to its devastating end, it is the Penguin Proust that makes Proust accessible to a new generation.
Each book is translated by a different, superb translator working under the general editorship of Professor Christopher Prendergast, University of Cambridge.

One of the greatest, most entertaining reading experiences in any language, Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time Vol. 1: The Way by Swann's is published in a new translation from the French by Lydia Davis in Penguin Classics.
The Way by Swann's is one of the great novels of childhood, depicting the impressions of a sensitive boy of his family and neighbours, brought dazzlingly back to life by the famous taste of a madeleine. It contains the separate short novel, A Love of Swann's, a study of sexual jealousy that forms a crucial part of the vast, unfolding structure of In Search of Lost Time. This book established Proust as one of the greatest voices of the modern age - satirical, sceptical, confiding and endlessly varied in his responses to the human condition.
Since the original pre-war translation Remembrance of Things Past by C. K. Scott Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin, there has been no completely new rendering of Proust's French original into English. This translation brings to the fore a more sharply engaged, comic and lucid Proust. As the great story unfolds from its magical opening scenes to its devastating end, it is this Penguin Classics edition of In Search of Lost Time that makes Proust accessible to a new generation.
Marcel Proust (1871-1922) is generally viewed as the greatest French novelist and perhaps the greatest European novelist of the 20th century. He lived much of his later life as a reclusive semi-invalid in a sound-proofed flat in Paris, giving himself over entirely to writing his masterpiece In Search of Lost Time (A la recherche du temps perdu).

In this, the final volume of Remembrance of Things Past, as the various threads which have emerged through the vast novel are brought together, and sometimes resolved, Marcel considers the nature of time and its effect on himself and the people he has known. ‘For after death time leaves the body, and memories – indifferent and pale – are obliterated in her who exists no longer and soon will be in him they still torture, memories which perish with the desire of the living body.’

Swann in Love is the continuation of Swann’s Way, the first part of Marcel Proust’s monumental cycle Remembrance of Things Past. It tells the story of man-about-town Charles Swann’s passionate, tormented love affair with the courtesan Odette de Crécy, and of its surprising outcome. Set in the degenerate demi-monde of nineteenth-century Paris as well as in the fashionable drawing rooms of the aristocracy, this new audiobook vividly brings to life the descriptive genius of the original novel.

Swann’s Way forms the first part of Marcel Proust’s magnificent autobiographical cycle Remembrance of Things Past. Here, Proust’s vision, psychological understanding and vivid powers of description combine to create one of the most poetic and magical works in all literature. For lovers of the original text there are new delights to be found in this audiobook version, while those discovering the work for the first time may be surprised to find it so accessible.

Remembrance of Things Past is one of the monuments of 20th-century literature. Neville Jason’ unabridged recording of the work runs to 150 hours. Within a Budding Grove is the second of seven volumes. The theme is one of developing sexuality in which the Narrator visits a brothel and we follow the course of his first love affair with Gilberte. When he visits the seaside resort of Balbec and meets ‘the little band’ of enchanting adolescent girls, he finds one of them, Albertine, especially intriguing but doesn’t yet realise how much she will mean to him in the future. Based on the translation by C. K. Scott Moncrieff.