I.26
Swann in attendance
at Duc de X----'s luncheon
caught grandfather's ear
at Duc de X----'s luncheon
caught grandfather's ear
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Tuesday, January 17, 2006
I.25
Swann's friends were common
by association,
revealed grandmother
by association,
revealed grandmother
I.24
early Swann of my mind
charming mistakes of my youth--
his aquiline nose
charming mistakes of my youth--
his aquiline nose
I.23
Swann plays piano--
our Combray garden not
high clubs and salons
our Combray garden not
high clubs and salons
I.22
in evening clothes
from dining "with a princess"--
aunt's sarcasm, knits
from dining "with a princess"--
aunt's sarcasm, knits
I.21
peeping over glasses,
she queries Swann on his
common lodgings
she queries Swann on his
common lodgings
I.20
amusing stories
and a dull preciseness--
my great aunt doubts Swann
and a dull preciseness--
my great aunt doubts Swann
I.19
Swann's secret
of a brilliant social life
kept him in our caste
of a brilliant social life
kept him in our caste
I.18
hand across forehead,
eyes rubbed and glasses wiped--
dead wife remembered
eyes rubbed and glasses wiped--
dead wife remembered
I.17
fetching the liquers
to appear ordinary--
Swann's voice
to appear ordinary--
Swann's voice
I.16
double tinkle
heralds Swann's late visit--
no kiss tonight
heralds Swann's late visit--
no kiss tonight
I.15
too short a kiss
was Mamma's painful goodnight--
that look!
was Mamma's painful goodnight--
that look!
I.14
in cowardice
crying in the attic--
orris-root scent
crying in the attic--
orris-root scent
I.13
scolding grandfather's
forbidden taste of brandy,
she smiled
forbidden taste of brandy,
she smiled
I.12
after dinner
grandmother walks in the rain
on too-straight paths
grandmother walks in the rain
on too-straight paths
I.11
mystery, beauty
intrude on well-fit habits--
my doorknob
intrude on well-fit habits--
my doorknob
I.10
out of the forest
Golo rode for Geneviève--
shone on the wall
Golo rode for Geneviève--
shone on the wall
I.9
recalling
Balbec, Paris, and the rest--
lying awake
Balbec, Paris, and the rest--
lying awake
I.8
little room
high ceiling getting lower--
clock ticks
high ceiling getting lower--
clock ticks
I.7
a winter nest--
snapshots of a horse
break into trot
snapshots of a horse
break into trot
I.6
Siena marble
in my Combray bedroom--
sunset's reflection
in my Combray bedroom--
sunset's reflection
I.5
immobile,
the world is as I make it--
I face a wall
the world is as I make it--
I face a wall
I.4
divergent dozing
losing sense of space and time--
rope down from heaven
losing sense of space and time--
rope down from heaven
I.3
cheek warm from her kiss--
Eve born from Adam's rib,
not the woman I seek
Eve born from Adam's rib,
not the woman I seek
I.2
comfortable pillow--
dreaming of false morning,
nearly midnight
dreaming of false morning,
nearly midnight
I.1
living in my book--
dissolved into the darkness,
I'm falling asleep
dissolved into the darkness,
I'm falling asleep
Haiku of Lost Time: "Proustku"
Haiku is a very old form of Japanese poetry that has traditionally
followed fairly stringent guidelines. I was fortunate to be involved in
a 3 month-long haiku workshop with the World Haiku Club where I learned
a lot about the form from some very accomplished haijin (haiku poets).
Associating the word "haiku" with what I will be writing here will be plain wrong in most cases. for this project I'll be doing something a little different: the "Proustku". The form I will be writing will be closer to senryu, which are structurally identical to haiku but much more flexible in content. Occasionally there will be haiku among the senryu but that will occur only when the pages of the text happen to evoke some particularly strong image of an appropriate type that I can capture with the form. Basically, I will try to capture something of the memories that Proust reconstructs in his book, but attempting to capture both the events and/or the feelings Proust's narrator describes. I'm sure that my idea of this invented form will develop as I go and become more concrete in time.
Any time I have put haiku-like forms on the web, somebody comes along and complains that what I am writing is not haiku because it doesn't follow the 5-7-5 syllable form. However, most haijin writing in English acknowledge that the 5-7-5 form does not come cloest to representing the Japanese original form. For example, the amount of information contained in 5-7-5 Japanese "syllables" is much less than in that many English syllables. Therefore, many English haijin espouse a smaller number of syllables (3-4-3, for example) to more closely approximate the quantity of information in a Japanese haiku, but they also do not believe in holding too strictly to these counts. In these Proustku, I'll typically use a loose form consisting of a longer line between two shorter ones, with the syllable count not exceeding 5-7-5, but often being less.
Associating the word "haiku" with what I will be writing here will be plain wrong in most cases. for this project I'll be doing something a little different: the "Proustku". The form I will be writing will be closer to senryu, which are structurally identical to haiku but much more flexible in content. Occasionally there will be haiku among the senryu but that will occur only when the pages of the text happen to evoke some particularly strong image of an appropriate type that I can capture with the form. Basically, I will try to capture something of the memories that Proust reconstructs in his book, but attempting to capture both the events and/or the feelings Proust's narrator describes. I'm sure that my idea of this invented form will develop as I go and become more concrete in time.
Any time I have put haiku-like forms on the web, somebody comes along and complains that what I am writing is not haiku because it doesn't follow the 5-7-5 syllable form. However, most haijin writing in English acknowledge that the 5-7-5 form does not come cloest to representing the Japanese original form. For example, the amount of information contained in 5-7-5 Japanese "syllables" is much less than in that many English syllables. Therefore, many English haijin espouse a smaller number of syllables (3-4-3, for example) to more closely approximate the quantity of information in a Japanese haiku, but they also do not believe in holding too strictly to these counts. In these Proustku, I'll typically use a loose form consisting of a longer line between two shorter ones, with the syllable count not exceeding 5-7-5, but often being less.
Haiku of Lost Time: The Choice of Translation
Not having French, a serious decision must be made before embarking on
Proust: which translation? There are a number of major translations in
English, including the original by C. K. Scott Moncrieff, the revision
by Terence Kilmartin, a further revision by D. J. Enright, and a new
translation by a group of translators, each to a volume.
Typically, modern translations are better than older ones and revised translations better than the originals, but not always. A few aspects work against the latest translation. Perhaps the most important is the style of the translation, but also significant is that only the first four volumes are available in the United States, where I am currently based, due to the extension of copyright protection of the original text, as dictated by the Sonny Bono Copyright Act. So leaving aside the new translation, I have chosen to use what is generally regarded as the best English translation of Proust, the Enright revision of the Scott Moncrieff and Kilmartin text.
To read more about choosing a translation, you should read a two-part series in the New York Review of Books by André Aciman. The first part is currently freely available on the NYRB website but the second part requires a subscription or one-off article purchase.
The specific edition I am using is The Modern Library Classics paperback edition. Links to the books at Amazon are:
Volume 1: Swann's Way (606 text pages)
Volume 2: Within a Budding Grove
Volume 3: The Guermantes Way
Volume 4: Sodom and Gomorrah
Volume 5: The Captive & The Fugitive
Volume 6: Time Regained
Typically, modern translations are better than older ones and revised translations better than the originals, but not always. A few aspects work against the latest translation. Perhaps the most important is the style of the translation, but also significant is that only the first four volumes are available in the United States, where I am currently based, due to the extension of copyright protection of the original text, as dictated by the Sonny Bono Copyright Act. So leaving aside the new translation, I have chosen to use what is generally regarded as the best English translation of Proust, the Enright revision of the Scott Moncrieff and Kilmartin text.
To read more about choosing a translation, you should read a two-part series in the New York Review of Books by André Aciman. The first part is currently freely available on the NYRB website but the second part requires a subscription or one-off article purchase.
The specific edition I am using is The Modern Library Classics paperback edition. Links to the books at Amazon are:
Volume 1: Swann's Way (606 text pages)
Volume 2: Within a Budding Grove
Volume 3: The Guermantes Way
Volume 4: Sodom and Gomorrah
Volume 5: The Captive & The Fugitive
Volume 6: Time Regained
Haiku of Lost Time: A Proust Reading Project
By anybody's reckoning, reading Proust's In Search of Lost Time
is an ambitious endeavour. The text itself takes some getting used to,
with it's seemingless endless series of subordinate clauses and
cascading phrases. Yet, in a good translation, it's still quite easy to
make sense of it all.
The greatest difficulty I have found in reading Proust is that the text becomes so easy and fluid to read, and the nature of the content, about remembering and recreating events in the narrator's past, that my mind wanders through its own reminescences, finding comparisons and contrasts, recalling other books and stories, and generally becoming lost in a world of memory.
Keeping track of what is actually happening, though there isn't much, as such, does require continued concentration, and when my mind wanders, as it does often, I need to reread paragraphs or pages. Conscious that this was happening, I sought a project to keep me actively reading the text, so I don't find in the future that I just read pages 2700-2800, for example, without any recollection of what just happened.
And so, based on the regularity of progress in the text, about on the scale of a page, and considering the amount of time and effort that I could realistically devote to a project, while looking for something that would help me actively engage with the text, not only in terms of surface meaning, but also in terms of contextualising, understanding, and synthesising my text-provoked daydreams, and considering types of text I have experience with and enjoy, I decided that I should write a short haiku-like piece for each page of text, such that reading the haiku series should evoke both the content and feel of the text, in ways that connect with the impressionistic style of the text, despite the brevity of the form used.
There is of course an obvious contrast between what may be the longest sentences ever published and one of the shortest textual forms, and that dissonance flavours the project tastily.
Beginning with Swann's Way and working through to Time Regained, I intend to write these short texts, as an exercise for myself and for the edification of any interested reader. If nothing else, 3500-odd haiku could be less taxing to read than the pages of the book. Or perhaps not.
I have a few comments to make about the form of my pieces and the translation I am working from, among other things, but soon the first text will be making its way from the pencilled margins of the books to this blog.
The greatest difficulty I have found in reading Proust is that the text becomes so easy and fluid to read, and the nature of the content, about remembering and recreating events in the narrator's past, that my mind wanders through its own reminescences, finding comparisons and contrasts, recalling other books and stories, and generally becoming lost in a world of memory.
Keeping track of what is actually happening, though there isn't much, as such, does require continued concentration, and when my mind wanders, as it does often, I need to reread paragraphs or pages. Conscious that this was happening, I sought a project to keep me actively reading the text, so I don't find in the future that I just read pages 2700-2800, for example, without any recollection of what just happened.
And so, based on the regularity of progress in the text, about on the scale of a page, and considering the amount of time and effort that I could realistically devote to a project, while looking for something that would help me actively engage with the text, not only in terms of surface meaning, but also in terms of contextualising, understanding, and synthesising my text-provoked daydreams, and considering types of text I have experience with and enjoy, I decided that I should write a short haiku-like piece for each page of text, such that reading the haiku series should evoke both the content and feel of the text, in ways that connect with the impressionistic style of the text, despite the brevity of the form used.
There is of course an obvious contrast between what may be the longest sentences ever published and one of the shortest textual forms, and that dissonance flavours the project tastily.
Beginning with Swann's Way and working through to Time Regained, I intend to write these short texts, as an exercise for myself and for the edification of any interested reader. If nothing else, 3500-odd haiku could be less taxing to read than the pages of the book. Or perhaps not.
I have a few comments to make about the form of my pieces and the translation I am working from, among other things, but soon the first text will be making its way from the pencilled margins of the books to this blog.
