Sodom and Gomorrah – Part I
Written by Marcel Proust
Narrated by Neville Jason
4/5
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About this audiobook
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.
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Reviews for Sodom and Gomorrah – Part I
25 ratings9 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/53.5*
I was heading to a 4* rating until the final chapter. Marcel baffled me in it with his abrupt volte face with regard to Albertine. Despite this, this 4th volume of the In Search of Lost Time series was much more enjoyable to me than the previous books. Or perhaps I am just getting habituated to Proust's style so that it doesn't annoy or bore me as much as it originally did... - Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5What I do NOT about this book is that it is NOT in French as you so list it. I'm pissed!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5“Cities of the Plain”, or the less subtly euphemistic title of “Sodom and Gomorrah”, gives the reader some idea of the main theme to be found within this part of Proust's Novel. The theme is introduced early on, and is relied upon for most of the plot, providing several scenarios and new concerns for the author. The Verdurins depicted as so boring in previous volumes return here to play a fairly large part in the story, where they become slightly more endearing though stay as uninteresting otherwise; I was hoping we had seen the last of them, and I don't know what inspired Proust to change his opinion on them and decide that they were worth writing more about. Apart from this, the book was about as enjoyably to read as the Guermantes way – that is, not as good as the first two parts.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Another shift of focus---to homosexuality, this time. The narrator's perspective of his acquaintances and friends is transformed by the discovery of homosexuals around him. In the case of men, this gives him an opportunity to explore the layers of interaction in society, and in the case of women, cause for anxiety, as he fears his companion has proclivities that will render her ultimately inaccessible to him.But it is just a shift in focus; the picture itself is the same. That is, same elements, same quality of insightful observations on the mind and on society, same subtle and powerful language.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5While I found some moments that were entertaining or interesting such as the narrators return to the subject of sleep and memory, mostly this section was an aggravation brought on by the game playing and jealousies of Marcel.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5It's a pity but I gave up on Proust half way through this...not his fault obviously
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Beetje kabbelend en soms absoluut devi?rend tot langdradig, maar sublieme passages (de bespieding van Charlus, herinnering aan zijn grootmoeder). In dit deel staat vooral Charlus centraal en de donkere kant van de seksualiteit
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Beetje kabbelend en soms absoluut deviërend tot langdradig, maar sublieme passages (de bespieding van Charlus, herinnering aan zijn grootmoeder). In dit deel staat vooral Charlus centraal en de donkere kant van de seksualiteit
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In which our protagonist learns that almost everyone, other than him, is gay. Like the Guermantes' Way, this is a comedy of manners combined with some amazing essays and penetrating psychology. There's not much to say about this volume that one couldn't say about GW, except for the homosexuality, which is an interesting twist. As I was reading it, I thought about Hollinghurst's 'Line of Beauty,' and wondered whether Proust would have been different, better or worse if he'd been able to accept his own sexuality a bit and write about it in a less distanced way. I honestly have no idea.
On a side note, I cried the first time I read the narrator's vision of his grandmother, and I cried this time too.