A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

From the À la recherche du temps perdu series, Swann's Way begins the story of the narrator, his love for the Swanns' daughter Gilberte, the romantic travails of Swann himself, French society, infidelity, the dangers of idealization and the power of involuntary memory--evinced most strongly by the flavor brought about by dipping the madeleine into tea. Within the tremendously long and incredibly descriptive Proustian sentences lay dazzling insights into the human condition, insights that have the reader nodding readily in recognition and ensure that Proust takes his place alongside Nietzsche and Dostoevsky as a master psychologist as well as a tremendously talented novelist. The book is rich with description and imagery and Proust is one of the best there is at transporting the reader into his mind, the better to understand Proust's story. Tremendous credit must be given to the translating effort, which allows us to fully appreciate the overwhelming beauty of Proust's story and prose. The nostalgia that is redolent in the book is powerfully affecting and many times, deeply moving. And the characters are unforgettable. One naturally feels sorry for Swann, so hopelessly in love and so blind to the manner in which he is being humiliated by the truly repulsive Odette. The Verdurins remind us of the shallow clique of people each of us has, at some point, run across in our lives. The narrator seems deeply burdened and almost overwhelmed by his emotions and his inability to attract Gilberte's love is heartbreaking. And at the end of the book, we want more.

And more, of course, we are able to have. I look forward to completing the entire series and Within A Budding Grove, naturally, constitutes my current fare. Oh, and I suppose that it would be wrong of me not to note that Proust has become thoroughly iconic in our lives.

How iconic?

This iconic (the last little bit makes it Not Safe For Work):