The Guermantes Way

Remembrance of Things Past, Volume 3

By: Marcel Proust

Narrated by: Neville Jason

Remembrance of Things Past is one of the monuments of 20th-century literature. Neville Jason’s widely praised abridged version has rightly become an audiobook landmark and now, upon numerous requests, he is recording the whole work unabridged which, when complete, will run for some 140 hours.

The Guermantes Way is the third of seven volumes. The narrator penetrates the inner sanctum of Paris high society and falls in love with the fascinating Duchesse de Guermantes. Proust describes vividly the struggles for political, social, and sexual supremacy played out beneath a veneer of elegant manners. He also finds himself pursued by the predatory Baron de Charlus.

Download the accompanying reference guide.Public Domain (P)2012 Naxos AudioBooks

À Sweeping Saga of Belle Epoque France

Audible, thank you for making it possible for me to listen to this masterpiece. Now, after finishing The Guermantes Way, I appreciate Proust’s genius even more. Surrounded and immersed in the rarefied atmosphere of the highest circles of the wealthy aristocracy, both in Balbec and in Paris, Proust exposes the vanity egoism, selfishness, pettiness, cowardice, cruelty, ignorance, and, yes, the suffering, inherent in 99.5% of human beings. He develops one of the themes of In Search of Lost Time, that « chacun est bien seul», that each person is very much alone, by objectively exposing with his pen, like an electronic microscope that does not miss an atom, the characters of several key figures to be found in various socioeconomic classes of French society in the years leading to World War I. Everyone is in search of love. Everyone breaks someone’s heart, and, in turn, has his/her heart broken by someone. Almost everyone is using physical beauty and sexual attraction as a weapon. Almost everyone lies, negotiates, barters, bribes, blackmails in order to survive and not to be undone by the Ways of the World. What a saga Proust is weaving, in glorious metaphors and images, in minute recreations of hilarious, absurd, and, yes, even tedious conversations, like a Spy in the most prestigious Salons of Belle Epoque Paris;and, lastly, only as Proust can, in his long, philosophical ruminations on the foibles, triumphs, desires, illusions, and obsessions of the human heart.

Superb reading of the classic

Amazing performance! Bravo, Neville Jason—incredible renderings of the Duke de Guermantes and his brother, the Baron Charles. Unforgettable.

Great reading of Vol 3 of "In Search of Lost Time"

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This is volume 3 in a 7 volume series comprising the entire novel "In Search of Lost Time". This volume describes the narrator's young adulthood, his quest for sexual gratification, and his attempts to penetrate high society. His family rents an apartment in a building owned by the Guermantes (part of the highest strata of society), so he begins to stalk the Duchess, one of his childhood crushes from Combray, in the hope of impressing her. His efforts to be introduced to her come to naught until a chance friendship made in Balbec pays off. Many people don't realize how funny Proust is; some of his humor is tongue-in-cheek, so pay attention.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Guermantes Way?

Rather than a moment, it's a section of the volume that will break your heart. About 50 pages in print, it describes Marcel's Grandmother's stroke (when they are in the park), her illness (including the state of medicine 100 years ago), and death. It combines tragedy with comedy and pathos. Unbelievably well written.

What about Neville Jason’s performance did you like?

Neville Jason's reading is a pleasure to listen to. He's a great voice actor, which makes it easier to identify the characters. it was quite an undertaking to read at 1.25 million words for all 7 volumes. (If all 7 volumes are not available when you read this, please put in a request for the missing volumes to Audible.)

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The death of Marcel's Grandmother is the climax of the story of her stroke and illness. Marcel describes her body: "Life in withdrawing from her had taken with it the disillusionments of life. A smile seemed to be hovering on my grandmother’s lips. On that funeral couch, death, like a sculptor of the middle ages, had laid her in the form of a young maiden."

Any additional comments?

Today, Moncrieff's title "Remembrance of Things Past" has been updated to "In Search of Lost Time", a better translation of the original French. Moncrieff's translation of what is perhaps the greatest twentieth-century novel was a work of art in itself, but the translation included some errors and is out of date. I recommend obtaining William C. Carters translation of this volume in paperback from Yale to read or browse when it becomes available, but this is still a great recording.

Another fine entry in the project

If you're looking this far into the gigantic Proust novel, I'll assume you need no recommendations regarding the "story", such as it is, but I will say that Guermantes Way is likely one of the most entertaining and funny of all the volumes. Proust's dead-on critique of high society is full of cynical humour as he comes to realize that the princes and duchesses he's worshipped from afar are either vain, stupid or badly wasting any wit or talent they possess.

Neville Jason has undertaken the huge task of rendering Remembrance of Things Past into audio-book form in English. He gives a fine read, giving characters equivalent British accents (the Duc de Guermantes is given a London aristocrats' accent, Fran??oise an Irish servant's tones, etc.) and pronounces all surviving French words correctly. The short pdf reader's guide that comes with the audiobook was actually written by Jason as well, and he does a good job of introducing the general reader to Proust.

Guermantes way a challenge

I really slowed down at end of 2nd book and feared I wouldn’t make it through the rest. Audible and especially Neville Jason got me through and I’m onto book 4. Need to read the crazy part with Charles and the ending but this was the answer to my prayers!

More of the Same (Thankfully!)

Would you consider the audio edition of The Guermantes Way to be better than the print version?

Yes, because Neville Jason is simply brilliant in his portrayal of characters.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Guermantes Way?

The narrator's contemplation on the death of his grandmother.

Which scene was your favorite?

The awkward attempt of Charlus to seduce the narrator.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, Proust needs to be savored and contemplated.

Great narrator

These Proust books narrated by Neville Jason are greatly enlivened by Jason’s narration. Definitely recommend.

André Aciman Was Right

Reading Proust WILL change your life. I'm only halfway through the 6 volumes at this point, and I use the term "volumes" advisedly. The sheer amount of prose is like nothing you have experienced before or will ever after. You observe the flaying of the superficial speech of the moneyed and titled. You are an observer of the vivesection of their vacuous lives. There must be an entire gland and endocrinological system in the human body, as yet undiscovered by the science of medicine that produces the amount of morbid curiosity needed to continue reading. Courage, mes chers lecteurs. Courage!

Carries Proust Readers Deeper into Memory/Society

In 'The Guermantes Way', Proust pushes several social forces together. He examines the cult of aristocracy, meditates on the role of the military in French society, examines French antisemitism through the Dreyfus affair, French art, and the banal conversations and selfish superficiality that permeate throughout the drawing rooms of the upperclass denizens of the Faubourg St. Germain.

Three times in the novel (the death of the Narrator's grandmother, the illness of of Amanien d"Osmond, and the announcement by Swann to Mme de Guermantes and the Duc that he is dying) Proust shows how the French aristocracy are concerned more with the shallow requirements of society (shoes, promptness, etc) than real human compassion for the dying.

This third volume of Proust's epic 'A la Recherche du Temps Perdu', carries the reader deeper into Proust's analysis of memory, society, language, and art.

Recommended

This is a very decent reading of Proust's third volume. This volume wasn't as enchanting as Swann's Way in my opinion, but it's head and shoulders above most everything else. The narration is fine.