A long time has elapsed since my last review, and even longer since I picked up the final volume of Proust's life work. I have been reading it on and off for almost exactly two years, a staggering record when it comes to my reading history. Indeed, I started on 20/12/21 and only finished on 19/11/23. Volume 3 incorporates The Captive, The Sweet Cheat Gone, and Time Regained. The first two deal with Proust's obsession and imprisonment of his mistress Albertine, who eventually escapes from him, whilst the latter deals with his post sanitorium days and his reflections on beginning the great work. I would be challenged to remember all of what transpired, but I do remember being, as is usual with Proust, insufferably bored. I only read the book in small doses, which is why it took me such a significant amount of time to finish.
When I think of the years wasted on this enterprise, I do believe Proust has robbed me of time. Surely there must be some redeeming qualities in the text if I stuck with it? In truth, precious little. There are passages of profound clarity and insight to enrich the mind but they are so burdened down by trivial gossip and manic descriptions of aristocratic lineage that they can be hard to distinguish. An abridged version is most certainly needed, for there is much that can be cut. In addition to Albertine, Gilbert, the Duchesse de Guermantes, Robert de Saint-Loup etc., Proust returns to his observations of the Marquis de Charlus, a larger than life invert who in his later years frequents sex dungeons and have himself violently flogged. I did enjoy the closing chapters of the book where Proust finally finds his inspiration after a lifetime of indolence, there was much to relate to there. Overall though, this book has broken me, and I require literary healing.
Rating: 1/5
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