by Dennis Abrams
I’m going to try and keep this short and sweet. Proust, among the many things he has to teach us, teaches how to see, not through his eyes but through our own eyes, and in ways we never imagined possible. And I have to thank all of you who, through your posts, your questions, your comments, and your emails, helped to show me ways to read In Search of Lost Time that I never imagined possible. It has been an extraordinary journey — a little more than a year completely immersed in Proust. Knowing that you were out there forced me to read the book more closely than I’ve ever read anything in my life. Forced me to think about it more constantly than I have any other book. Forced me to look at, analyze and write about the book in ways that not only kept me interested but kept the hundreds of readers around the world who have been following the blog interested as well.
For that, for your constant inspiration, for the friendships I’ve made, I am eternally grateful.
I wish you all the very happiest of new years, and I hope to see you next week when Project D is officially launched.
http://projectdblog.wordpress.com/
Dennis
Bravisissimo, Dennis. Many, many thanks.
“My last post.” That’s hard to process. I suspect the post for December 31, 2010, will have a long and vital life as Proust’s — and Dennis’s — acolytes return here to explore what it has meant to live a year in thrall to Proust.
Occasionaly visits here have allowed me to begin to know the work of the writer Proust….whom i had never even known the name before this blog…am looking foward to project D. and hope to be able to actually follow it’s course this time..Thanks again Dennis for your contributions to the Literary Arts. TT
Thanks, Dennis!
We should all be jubilant that we have finished our reading and that the blog will live on. How many people can honestly say that they read it – all of it – so many words and pages. The fact that we did it together allowed us to have a sense of community which we all found meaningful and helpful in completing the project.
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers (and sisters); who have read Proust together … and others who have not yet read shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here (with apologies to Shakespeare).
Happy New Year, all.
I am very grateful to you, Dennis, and the readers who posted. Patricia, thanks for the recent links and for writing about the Bakewell book. Would you consider posting your 2010 reading list?
Yesterday I happened in the cooking section of a store and I was stunned to see a madeleine baking pan. I thought “My word, he’s everywhere!”
Thanks to Dennis and everyone. Happy New Year.
Thank you, Dennis. Though I’ve fallen behind in my re-reading of The Search, I’ll continue to read your posts alongside my daily (or weekly) reading. We all appreciate not only your summaries and commentaries, but the recommended readings and excerpts of other works.
Rick
And please feel free to post or to ask questions…I’ll still be stopping by to keep things updated.
Now I’m re-inspired to dig out my old madeline pan and bake up a mess o’ madelines to kiss off this project. Thanks to Dennis and everyone, especially Marcel.
I was amused today to see the NYT’s Book Review ask authors their ‘readerly resolutions for 2011” – of the eight authors queried, one facetiously promises to read Proust and another resolves to finish Proust, “I mean it this time…I really do.” My thirteen months reading Proust began with a lighthearted Proust pledge, spur of the moment, but Proust has been a thread of gold through the year, a commitment to deeper reading. Thank you, Dennis, for your masterful conducting, shepherding and inspiring us, I shall very much miss the Cork Lined Room. Happy New Year!