Groups

Proust Reading Group

The Proust Reading Group—now in its second year and over 35 members strong—meets at the Athenaeum from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on the second Monday of each month. For 2010-2011, our first meeting was September 13, 2010. The group will read approximately 120 pages per month (about 30 pages per week) and will meet every month except July and August.

The Reading Group is meant not as a class but as an opportunity for people who have always wanted to read Proust, or have tried and only gotten part way through the early volumes, to have a slightly more structured reading schedule, as well as a cheering squad of others who share the goal of reading it through.

Christina Bevilacqua, Director of Programs and Public Engagement, will facilitate the group. She considers herself a Proust enthusiast, not a Proust expert. The group will be using the 3-volume translation by Scott Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin, published by Random House (original publication was 1981-82, depending on the edition), widely available in hardback and paperback, new and used.

Christina has read the work many times, enjoying it more with each reading, and believes that it is a work with an unfair reputation for difficulty and obscurity. Proust’s prose may take a little getting used to at first, but once you become immersed in the book and his sensibility, Christina hopes you will find instead that his writing is characterized by an almost scientific clarity, as well as an entirely idiosyncratic and unforgettable sense of wit and humor.

There’s no time like the present to start a new adventure!

Click here for Proustian Recommendations and Links From Christina Bevilacqua.

Proust Meeting Schedule and Reading Group Assignments:

October 2011 through June 2012.

Unless indicated as an exception below, group meets on the second Monday of each month. 

Group members have one of two editions of the book: RH indicates Random House edition; ML indicates Modern Library edition.

10/12 (NOTE - Since the Athenaeum is closed for Columbus Day on the 2nd Monday of October, we are meeting instead on Wednesday, October 12th): Pages 1-137 RH [ML 1-180], ends with

"' …and how to pay without clearing himself of debt.'"

11/14:  Pages 137-280 RH [ML 181-370], ends with "...was absolutely determined to forbid his appearance at Mme de Duras's party."

12/12: Pages 280-422 RH [ML 370-559],  ends with "'Leave me now for a moment, I shall ring for you presently.'" (end of The Captive)

1/9: Pages 425-565 RH [ML 563-746*], ends with "…who prove on the contrary that they are inconsolable because they marry their deceased wife's sister."

2/13: Pages 565-706 RH [ML 746-936], ends with "… I was obliged to make an effort to restrain my tears." (End of The Fugitive)

3/12: Pages 709-837 RH [ML 1-173], ends with ""But how unfortunate that to complete the picture one of us two is not an odalisque!'"

4/9: pages 837-957 RH [ML 173-332], ends with "… of the beauty of whom already we are no longer jealous and whom we no longer love."

5/14: pages 975-1107 RH [ML 332-532], ends with "… separated by the slow accretion of many, many days--in the dimension of Time." (Fin)

Other Groups

Two groups that in the past have met at the library, the Athenaeum Writers' Group and the African Study Group, are on temporary hiatus until further notice. Please contact Karen McLennan for more information: kjmclennan@cox.net.