Remembrance of Things Past: Place Names: The Name & Madame Swann at Home

You hear it said that each person is given the same amount of time in their day. To a certain degree, I suppose this to be true. But Proust introduces a concept that I had not considered that "in our lives the days are not equal" (424). He further explains his theory by stating days come in different gears. He finds that "there are mountainous, arduous days, up which one takes an infinite time to climb, and downward-sloping days which one can descend at full tilt, singing as one goes" (424). Each day contains 24 hours; each hour has 60 minutes; each minute has 60 seconds… But a day can contain many different moments that can last a second or an afternoon. Or a day can simply contain the 1440 minutes and have no extraordinary moments. In life, there are times—often unpleasant—that simply seem to drag on. Those fleeting moments of happiness seem to be more difficult to hang on to.

Marcel's infatuation with Gilberte Swann also sparks some insightful remarks about humanity. With each individual that one has interactions with, "a new personality" is developed (465). Around different people, someone can exaggerate certain traits that will fit that particular group. In a family setting, someone is completely different than at work or out with friends. On that same thought, love has the ability to create "a supplementary person whom the world knows by the same name, a person most of whose constituent elements is derived from ourselves" (505). In English when someone is in love and has a relationship, the lovers know one another on entirely different levels than regular acquaintances. One person is able to have those multiple personalities to fulfill their different roles.

Proust wrote Remembrance of Things Past more than a century ago, yet it continues to mirror some aspects of current American life. The growing dissatisfaction and inability to find contentment grows further out of many people's reach. Proust finds that people "continue to struggle and hope a little longer, but happiness can never be achieved" (672). Why? Once we overcome our circumstances, there is nothing to fight for and we lose our sense of appreciation for that which we strive for. We find "the phenomenon of happiness either fails to appear, or at once gives rise to the bitterest reactions" (672). If we continue to pursue empty dreams, we will never be fulfilled.

In the middle of Madame Swann at Home, one small snippet discusses the magic of the New Year and new beginnings. Marcel is disappointed in people who "cease to believe in the New Year" and believe any new goals are futile (526). I pondered this for a bit and hope that I shall never become one of those who don't believe in the magic of the New Year. I firmly believe that every individual has the ability to change, reform habits, and grow as an individual. The New Year offers every one the opportunity to examine their lives and improve them.

Remembrance of Things Past: Swann in Love

In the first half of Swann's Way, I thought Swann would be someone I could really look up to. He seemed to be able to function for every social clique and was above the constraints of both upper and middle class culture. He was educated and appreciated the arts. But then Swann in Love happened; how could such an amazing individual get hung up on a manipulative creature like Odette?

Marcel makes some amazing observations about humanity: "Three-quarters of the mental ingenuity and the mendacious boasting squandered ever since the world began by people who are cheapened thereby, have been aimed at inferiors" (209). In modern American culture this is apparent in countless ways. People seem to use every possible way to prove they are better than their neighbors by competing with the Joneses. The rat race is completely ridiculous and Proust explicitly states that those who attempt to elevate themselves about the rest of society are "cheapened" because the squander so much of their time and energy. Those who try to compete are often left unsatisfied and discontent. It is a shame that humanity has become more involved with this behavior since Proust published ROTP.

The use of flowers in ROTP continues to amaze me. The flower Odette gives to Swann in that fateful carriage ride is none other than the chrysanthemum (239). Chrysanthemums are the flower of the dead. They are often placed on graves to remember the departed. This could be no accident: the flower seems to represent Swann's loss of life and vitality and his enslavement to Odette. Also the cattleya mentioned repeatedly in Swann in Love refers to an orchid that takes 5-7 years to bloom. After years of cultivating this stick, you have a beautiful flower for 10 days and then it dies. The effort is not worth the reward. Similarly, the effort Swann puts into the relationship is not worth the reward that he obtains.

Remembrance of Things Past: Overture & Combray

To maintain a healthy level of insanity, I've decided to read Proust's Remembrance of Things Lost this summer. All 1.5 million words of it. The use of memory and reflections upon the past are prominently featured throughout the work—especially in the madeline sequence (48-51). Like many other modernist writers, Proust focuses upon sensory details like taste and smell to describe his memories. In these first two chapters, Marcel reflects on his childhood and impressions he has of people. I doubt he is entirely reliable (a modernist technique, no doubt), but he it is his unreliability which is one reason the work is so endearing. Marcel himself seems to realize the problem memories can have in relation to truth. He finds: "We try to discover things, which become precious to us on that account, the reflection of what our soul has projected on to them; we are disillusioned when we find that they are in reality devoid of the charm which they owed, in our minds, to the association of ideas" (93). How many times has an individual gone back to visit people or places of the past and they are simply not right? They have lost the charm they once had and no longer resemble those precious memories which we have created and cherish.

Marcel delves into the issue of society and its impact upon the characters within the book. Marcel's family falls within the middle class and his compares France's society to a Hindu caste system in which sharply defined castes are determined at birth. One's station in life cannot be changed unless there is "the accident of an exceptional career or of a 'good' marriage" (17). Everyone accepted their role within society and seemed to play the part they had been given happily.

Hamlet: Is He an Unlikely Hero?

Hamlet is the not the typical hero many would envision when considering Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces, but he does have many of the characteristics that other heroes have. His call to adventure comes from the ghost of his father. Though Hamlet has many helpers on his journey, he never seems to fully trust any around him and kills or has killed all who seem to act as allies (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) or mentors (Polonius). Perhaps this is because the hero must act alone and complete the journey without any outside aid. As stated on the handout, "the action occurs in a heroic past. With the exception of Omeros epics feature the heroes of a culture: the kings and warriors. The churls and gravediggers are of little consequence. In epics, the heroes illustrate how members of society should behave to create a better world for all. How Hamlet accomplishes this, I'm stumped. Also, after the hero completes his task i.e. avenging the death of his father, he should emerge with some great wealth (whether tangible gold or a great revelation), but Hamlet is left to die. (In fact, everyone seems to die; the body count is remarkably high even for a Shakespearian tragedy.)

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

CS Lewis is an amazing writer, but I had never considered his work TLTW&TW to be an epic. This idea has completely reinvigorated the work for me and makes we want to read the entire work again as an epic. The selection from Lewis' work has part of Aslan's aristeia: he is taunted continually by his enemies. After being shaved, the mob remarks that "he's only a great cat after all!" (150). In "Deeper Magic From Before the Dawn of Time," the audience is exposed to many of the prophesies that are traditionally found in the epics. Aslan reveals "that when a willing victim who has committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards" (160). This prophesy allows "the gods" to play a role in TLTW&TW. Also the gathering of the followers of Aslan together seems reminiscent of so many other epics. In Lord of the Rings a council met to discuss the fate of the rings, in Iliad both gods and men come together to discuss the next actions in the Trojan War, in Paradise Lost the council in heaven discussing the war with Satan also seems to influence this work.

Candide

As much as I love Voltaire' Candide, I can't seem to wrap myself around this satire as an epic. First off, the story seems to begin more ab ovo. There is a clear beginning; it almost starts with a once upon a time. Through a series of unfortunate events, Candide begins a journey that doesn't seem to be as straight as those in other epics. He is often taken off course and pursues other adventures. His entire quest is for the lovely Cunegonde. In the end, he does find Cunegonde, but she is not the girl of his dreams. His entire "epic" journey has been a bit of waste. She isn't beautiful, she's sun-burnt, with bloodshot eyes, a withered neck, wrinkled face, red scaly arms. His prize is rotten! At the end of a hero's journey, he is supposed to have something to show for it. He doesn't have a beautiful girl; perhaps, Candide is one of those fellows he ends up with wisdom only the hero may gain—but he seems to reject all of the knowledge he has gained through his experiences and refuses to better society, content to live the remainder of his days cultivating his garden. He is too selfish to share his wisdom (if he has gained any, which I don't believe he did, he just kind of quit). Don't get me wrong; Candide's an amazing satire—I cannot classify it as an epic.

Kalevala

The Kalevala seems to integrate many of the elements of the epic tradition within its work. Although "the power of a man lay not only in the strength of his arms" there is still an element of competition and warriors take a genuine pride in a job well done (15). In the "Singing Contest," Joukahainen is determined to "battle" the great warrior Vainamoinen. Like in the Lusiads and the old man yelling from the dock his warning not to proceed, Joukahainen's parents plead with him not challenge the old wizard. Although this is not the typical epic battle we are used to where men attempt to hack each other to death, it contains many of the elements of the aristeia. At their meeting, Joukahainen brags about his amazing knowledge and his many accomplishments just like many of the warriors in past epics like Iliad, Aeneid, and Lusiads. Vainamoinen taunts Joukahainen stating that his "is the learning of women" (19). Vainamoinen reminds me faintly of Achilles in The Iliad: before Patroclus' death, Achilles is offered a huge amount of booty to join the ranks and fight the Trojans, yet he resisted. Vainamoinen is offered an array of fabulous prizes, but only the promise of an amazingly beautiful young girl is able to persuade Vainamoinen to release the magic holding Joukahainen.