A Bookmark by Tom Disch

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A small reminder to laugh and not take things so seriously (and I feel the same way about Proust)

A Bookmark by Tom Disch

Four years ago I started reading Proust.
Although I'm past the halfway point, I still
Have seven hundred pages of reduced
Type left before I reach the end. I will
Slog through. It can't get much more dull than what
Is happening now: he's buying crepe-de-chine
Wraps and a real, well-documented hat
For his imaginary Albertine.
Oh, what a slimy sort he must have been—
So weak, so sweetly poisonous, so fey!
Four years ago, by God!—and even then
How I was looking forward to the day
I would be able to forgive, at last,
And to forget Remembrance of Things Past.


Comments

  1. i've never attempted to read proust. it seems people i've come across that have that's all they read for like 5 years of their life. it's a study i suppose. it just doesn't sound fun. or that interesting. i am sure it is once are done reading it all and can sit around and contemplate it, have lengthy conversations with others who read proust (how do they find each other?). but i've got plenty to keep me busy contemplating at this point, maybe someday.

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  2. I've never read Proust either but man, all signs today are pointing to just let things go. And in line with your post, have you seen this?

    ps. Yum at that picture. I love madelines!

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  3. It sounds like I'm fortunate to never have been a literature major. :)

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  4. I'm also learning to laugh and not take things so seriously!

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  5. Thanks for sharing. You are right, sometimes it's better to just not take things too seriously and let them go.

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  6. this is sweet. I havent read Proust either.

    Katrina Sophia Blog

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  7. lol, brilliant :)

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  8. Brilliant! I long ago gave up reading things that felt like so much work. Life's too short. ;)

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  9. Yeah give me YA fiction or chick lit any day.

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  10. I've attempted to read Proust once or twice (I gave up each time) - I read nonsense. Chick lit, YA fiction etc. Guilty as charged but interspersed, I try and read something mildly intelligent.

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