Review: The Shorter Proust

Peter Lawrence reviews The Shorter Proust: An abridged edition of Remembrance Of Things Past by Marcel Proust, translated by C K Scott Moncrieff, edited by Jim Putz

Some years ago I decided that, if I wished to consider myself well read, I should read Remembrance of Things Past in its entirety, all 3,300 pages of it. I dutifully set myself a daily reading schedule with the aim of getting through the entire behemoth within the year.

I was curious to see what I would make of such a monumental and famous piece of literature. I was pleasantly surprised by it and, in the end, finished it well within the time I had allotted.

The Shorter Proust is for readers who don’t have the time or determination to plan their reading a year ahead. Running to 654 pages, the text is less than a quarter of the original. With such a concise abridgement the question must be: is it faithful to the original, capturing the ‘stream of consciousness’ that Proust uses? Indeed, is it possible to prepare a meaningful shortening of such a key text? Some books do not necessarily allow such treatment. Could one abridge Ulysses for example? It would be difficult, and problematic, and would certainly not meet with universal approval.

So, this is a brave effort to tackle a tricky text. Has it succeeded? Most assuredly. The editor – Friend Jim Putz – says in his introduction that he has selected ‘those elements which build up the essential structure and show all the crucial characters, places and themes, and omitted everything else’. As he makes clear, it is only when one gets to the very end of the novel that the powerful structure underlying the whole work is unlocked. His intention is to include everything necessary to understand that complex structure. To that end, vocabulary and sentences remains unaltered, and nothing is paraphrased or condensed.

All the key themes of the work are well shown. As well as the famous ‘madeleine’ episode, Proust’s support of the Dreyfusards is extensively represented, comprising as it does a major portion of the middle volumes of Proust’s text. Proust was proud of his Jewish heritage, and firmly supported the Dreyfus cause when the scandal broke in Paris in 1896. Proust was homosexual, and again the editor makes sure the relevant passages, of which there are many, although much more muted and indirect, are amply covered. The exact influence of Proust’s sexuality on his writing is much debated, but several of his principal characters were either gay or bisexual, notably Palamède de Charlus, and this volume includes all that one needs to appreciate the subtlety of Proust’s treatment.

The text flows beautifully and there is no sense of jumping from excerpt to excerpt. Rather, it runs seamlessly as one continuous whole. I commend this work highly. It should immediately appeal to students of literature, those wishing to know more of fin de siècle Paris, as well as the curious general reader.

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Comments

I started this with the same intention some months ago. I read the first six pages and decided that was far to long to tell me that a child that wakes in a strange room is likely to be confused as to where he is. Shortly after I lost the will to read any more. Profoundly beautiful writing, no doubt, but profoundly boring as well. Just call me a philistine!

Oxfam benefited!

By RogerP on 4th November 2021 - 11:28

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I had a dear friend, now deceased, who every several years, re-read the entirety of Proust’s extremely long novel (in English).  With his encouragement, I purchased a three volume set and set about reading it. Mid-way through, I gave up in despair, having completely lost track of the characters and the narrative.  This spring, Oxfam benefited.  I am grateful for Peter Lawrence’s review of this much shortened new edition, and will be ordering it.

By SHSieverts@aol.com on 4th November 2021 - 13:31

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