The Guermantes Way Part 2

Written by Marcel Proust

Narrated by Neville Jason

The Guermantes Way, Part II continues the story of Marcel’s entry into the highest circles of French aristocracy. Having renewed his acquaintance with the enchanting Albertine who now submits to his amorous advances, Marcel finds himself pursued by the predatory Baron de Charlus.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
• Release date: Aug 1, 1997
• ISBN: 9789629546069

Marcel Proust

Marcel Proust (1871-1922) was a French novelist. Born in Auteuil, France at the beginning of the Third Republic, he was raised by Adrien Proust, a successful epidemiologist, and Jeanne Clémence, an educated woman from a wealthy Jewish Alsatian family. At nine, Proust suffered his first asthma attack and was sent to the village of Illiers, where much of his work is based. He experienced poor health throughout his time as a pupil at the Lycée Condorcet and then as a member of the French army in Orléans. Living in Paris, Proust managed to make connections with prominent social and literary circles that would enrich his writing as well as help him find publication later in life. In 1896, with the help of acclaimed poet and novelist Anatole France, Proust published his debut book Les plaisirs et les jours, a collection of prose poems and novellas. As his health deteriorated, Proust confined himself to his bedroom at his parents’ apartment, where he slept during the day and worked all night on his magnum opus In Search of Lost Time, a seven-part novel published between 1913 and 1927. Beginning with Swann’s Way (1913) and ending with Time Regained (1927), In Search of Lost Time is a semi-autobiographical work of fiction in which Proust explores the nature of memory, the decline of the French aristocracy, and aspects of his personal identity, including his homosexuality. Considered a masterpiece of Modernist literature, Proust’s novel has inspired and mystified generations of readers, including Virginia Woolf, Vladimir Nabokov, Graham Greene, and Somerset Maugham.

Reviews for The Guermantes Way Part 2

[p_s_patrick · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The third part of the Search for Lost time, and also the longest, I didn't enjoy this as much as the first two. It perhaps lacks some of the excitement that the first two have in their storyline, and when this is combined with certain scenes that seem to go on for ever, it is just a bit harder to get into. What can still be appreciated though is the humour, and the same quality of writing as the first two, but I think many readers will find some sections of this book boring. However, in a work four thousand pages long, it would be surprising if a uniform and outstanding quality were to be maintained throughout, I am just hoping that the remaining volumes return to brilliance.

[jorgearanda_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In this volume Proust shifts topics and mounts an analysis of our pursuit of status. His narrator climbs through the higher levels of the social hierarchy and finds himself in conflict between the natural pull of the aristocracy and its self-absorbed, vain, pedestrian core. Powerful and brilliant, as the previous two volumes, though perhaps slightly less engaging at the start.

[saraprindiville · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A lot about the Dreyfus affair- Judaism. A lot about obsession and then the let down once one finds out the person is not as you imagined. His grandmother died. That was painful- she also became different than she had always appeared to be. I can't wait for more!

[roblong_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My least favourite volume so far, which is not to distract from how good some of it is. The writing at its finest moments is breathtaking (it would give things away to mention what they are), but I did lose some interest during the most drawn out dinner parties. The book is very cynical about the society it studies, but is doubtless justified in being so. I assume that the journey from worship to scorn of high society mirrors Proust's own - and he makes a thoroughly convincing case.