Michael offered this in a comment on the previous post.
“For a long time I used to go to bed early.” —Proust
This cracks me up because
1. It reminds me of me, and
2. I think (I think) it’s the wonderfully simple and clear launch of something like thirty? pages of writing about not being able to sleep!
I admire writers like Proust and Woolf who can write inside a head. I just don’t have the mental stamina to stay with them for more than an essay’s length.
I was going from memory, so I’m glad, since you quoted it, that I got it right. Whew. The version I’ve read, by Lydia Davis: “For a long time, I went to bed early.” But C.K. Scott Moncrieff: “For a long time I used to go to bed early.” Whew.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who slogged through all 7 volumes of Proust and am tempted to read it again from the beginning, I rather like Proust. Perhaps because much of his work is structured like the German language where you go to the end of the sentence to find the verb.
ReplyDeleteAfter the 5th volume it became an endurance test that I was determined to win!!!
I would like to read it in French and can guarantee my French would be improved by the end. Although trying German might be interesting.
Kirsten