Week 2 - Combray

Marcel Proust’s “Combray” was a challenging but interesting piece of literature. 

Personally I found the writing style of Combray annoying to read. I had to go back and reread sentences I just finished reading because I forgot what was said at the beginning of the sentence quite a few times. While confusing, I thought it was an effective to convey that the narration was like a train of thought by the narrator. As well, having to reread most long sentences helped me understand some of the more abstract ideas about memory that were connected with the specific examples from his life.

As for the book itself, I related to how the narrator described memory. The passage about tea and a madeleine bringing back a vivid memory of his Aunt Léonie was captivating. The description heavy style of writing worked perfectly for this part. How he struggled for a while to dig the memory out after initially tasting the madeline made me remember times I had to concentrate to properly remember a memory after something randomly triggered one. I also thought the long-winded writing style was fitting where the narrator described how he felt as a young child. I think children have big feelings just like adults although they don’t necessarily have the vocabulary to express it at the time.

Proust's description of his family was intriguing. At first, I found the narrator's obsession with getting a goodnight kiss strange. The author describing that he wanted to “kiss her at all costs even though it was with the certainty of being on bad terms with her a long time after” felt extreme. Having taken a psychology class last semester, my brain started drifting to Freud (although I was taught he was very wrong). However, upon reading further I think the author just had an anxious attachment to his mother and was dependent on reassuring himself that he was loved by a goodnight kiss. The family dynamic overall seemed quite dysfunctional. His parents appeared to disagree about how to raise the author, with his father being strict about showing any sort of affection to his child. I felt sorry for the author as he described feeling "terrified" seeing his father come up the stairs only because he wanted to say goodnight to his mother.

My question for the class: If his father was not as strict about being affectionate do you think the narrator could have been less heavily dependent on his mother?