/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.10288702]

just give it to me straight, which translation (english) should i get?

[Anonymous No.10288716]

>>10288702
The one which you ignore to read the original in French.

[Anonymous No.10288719]

>>10288702
>>10288716
>reading Jews

Fresh off the boat from plebbit, I take it?

[Anonymous No.10288729]

>>10288702
The one you posted.

[Anonymous No.10288894]

>>10288702
the modern library one you posted is the agreed as the best

speaking as someone who managed to read the whole thing, it is not worth the time investment, ends up unsatisfying and the latter volumes feel rough because Proust died before finishing them

[Anonymous No.10289023]

if you speak English or another romance language take 2-3 months to learn french and read the originals.

[Anonymous No.10289161]

>>10288702

You want the version you've posted. (Scott Moncrieff is an interesting enough guy that you should also read the biography of him was done in 2014. His life was much more interesting than Proust’s.) Kilmartin and Enright are mostly a trick to keep the Moncrieff translation (1922) out of the public domain but the two modern editors do correct a few meaningful errors and their two passes of revision have also evened out some of the outdated English.

There are no other translations of In Search of Lost Time worth mentioning. Lydia Davis did a good job on Swann’s Way but all her work is undone by the fact that a different translator does each subsequent volume in that edition of the novel (this was one of the stupidest ideas in the history of publishing, as if it weren’t all one fucking book….) It won’t surprise you to learn that the edition with half a dozen different translators coincided with the novel entering the public domain in Great Britain. Nor that the insane, multiple translation was all a speedy scheme by Penguin to place the novel back behind copyright, now that they no longer had to pay any royalties on its text.

There has been only one valuable book written about In Search of Lost Time and it’s a very short one by Samuel Beckett. Read that one too.
https://www.amazon.com/Proust-Three-Dialogues-Samuel-Beckett/dp/0714500348/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1478012115&sr=8-3&keywords=beckett+proust

The only essay about Proust worth reading is by Walter Benjamin. Here’s that.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/yp64ufqj6ffetms/On%20the%20Image%20of%20Proust%20%281929%29%20-%20Walter%20Benjamin.pdf?dl=0

These two are really the only examples of writing about In Search of Lost Time that can stand on their own. (It’s remarkable how parasitic and frail these make everything else look.)

No, I take that back; there’s a third.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0500238545/ref=asc_df_05002385455261217?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=shopzilla0d-20&ascsubtag=shopzilla_rev_475-20;15111214760533268217610070301008005&linkCode=df0&creative=395093&creativeASIN=0500238545

It's a book that collects reproductions of all the artwork in the novel. Proust references specific works of art every five pages and it’s not really possible to read his novel without knowing exactly what they look like. Get that one too.

Here’s a digital version of the Moncrieff translation so you can start right now.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/59bsj8fjrzpt9dg/In%20Search%20of%20Lost%20Time%20-%20Marcel%20Proust.rar?dl=0

Here’s one of the Beckett book.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qza4vh5b6u5x8er/Proust%20-%20Samuel%20Beckett.pdf?dl=0

[Anonymous No.10289176]

>>10288702
>>10288729
>>10289161
thirding the Moncrieff

[Anonymous No.10289248]

>>10289161
thanks mang, and to everyone else. i don't know where i'd be without you all. books ordered and on their way

[Anonymous No.10289253]

Anon, just learn french, it's quite easy if you already know another romance language and it has great cultural value besides being good for your brain. You'll enjoy it much more in french.

I could recommend some books if you wish.

[Anonymous No.10289259]

>>10289253
NO

[Anonymous No.10289376]

>>10289161

Nice. Someone should turn this into a chart

[Anonymous No.10289391]

>>10289161
>There has been only one valuable book written about In Search of Lost Time and it’s a very short one by Samuel Beckett
Proust & Signs is more essential

[Anonymous No.10289403]

>>10289391
FUCK YOU PSEUD

[Anonymous No.10289420]

>>10289403
Why?