Read Proust with me this summer!

buckle up, mes amis

Hi friends,

Summer reading season is officially here! This post is for everyone who has expressed interest in tackling Marcel Proust’s epic opus In Search of Lost Time with me, which I’ll be officially starting with Volume 1, Swann’s Way, in about two weeks.

If you’d like to read along with me, the full recommended reading schedule is at the bottom of this post. I’m using my own page numbers here, but have done my best to give a general description of stopping points to accommodate other translations.

A note on translations:

I will be reading from the Folio Society’s 2001 printing, which uses D.J. Enright’s 1992 re-revision of Terence Kilmartin’s 1981 revision of C.K. Scott Moncrieff’s original 1922 translation (woof). However! Lydia Davis also translated Swann’s Way in 2004, and I’d be super curious to compare translations. I thought this little advice letter from The Paris Review on which edition to read was fun and insightful, but I encourage you to read whatever is easiest for you to acquire!

aren’t they gorg

What to expect from me:

I’ll be checking in weekly with a little note about that week’s reading, which might include historical context, personal thoughts/reactions, questions for further thought, and/or additional recommended reading. I’ll also be opening up the chat feature for all of us to discuss together in an informal setting as we go along.

This stuff will be behind a lil paywall ($5/month), so if you’d like to join for the full experience, you can upgrade your subscription below. I recommend signing up for the monthly subscription since this will only run through the end of August, at which point I’ll turn off the payments until the next time I decide to do a read-along like this! (Substack won’t let me do an annual option less than $30, so don’t pick that one unless you just want to be nice and give me money.)

Lastly, there will be at least two opportunities for live discussion, probably at the halfway point and at the end, but exact dates TBA! Open to making at least one of these virtual and/or hybrid if there’s enough out-of-town interest.

I can’t wait to get reading with everyone! Feel free to share with any other interested friends, and if you have any previous experience with Proust and have any tips/tricks/helpful thoughts to share, please let me know!

À bientôt!

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The reading schedule:

Part One: Combray

• July 7-14: Chapter I (pp. 1-45, end of Chapter I)