Proust was one of the greatest writers of European literature of the 20th century, the founder and master of stream-of-consciousness literature.
The long tome "Remembrance of the Lost Water Years" consists of 7 parts and 15 volumes, which tells the story of Marcel, who was born rich, frail and sickly, and aspired to literature, who was accustomed to "not working, not sleeping, and unable to sleep", and often "wasted time in unnecessary social activities" in the Paris high society salon, and the morbid sensitivity and the recollection of the past of several beautiful women became the center of the novel. The beautiful girl Hilbert is the gold of the rich Jewish merchant Swann and the courtesan Odette, who since childhood "braided their hair to touch their cheeks" and "smiled and stuffed a small snowball into their neck", he sold ancient Chinese porcelain to buy her rose lilacs. Albertina, whom he met in the seaside resort of Balbec, was captivated by her youthful vibrancy, as beautiful as Giotto's famous paintings, riding and galloping in the rain, changing her clothes every day, going to the beach with her most beautiful cane, and even ordering her yachts and Rolls cars.
The novel depicts the life and spiritual outlook of the capitalist high society of Paris in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and portrays a series of vivid and vivid characters: Swann, who sits on millions, is fascinated by oil painting antiques, and is popular with high society, like a fish in a fish tank who can't think, and is confused by the slut who does not love himself. Odette has a Botticelli femininity, lies and is debauched, fed by lovers, treats socializing as a colonial war, and after many marriages changes from a courtesan to a parisian sociable queen. Swann was eventually ruthlessly abandoned by high society and depressed in jealousy and remorse. He said: "I would hate to die, all for the sake of giving my greatest love to a woman who is not all the way with me!" ”
The noble Duchess of Galemont wears a long red dress, full of jewels, like red flowers and translucent gems, with a mysterious wheel of light, with a "strange disease" that cannot be associated with women, "all men are in her house" is the symbol of her victory. But she also had to endure her husband's thunderous fire and receive his mistress. Baron Charlus was always immersed in the incomparable memory of the aristocratic tradition, listing lovers as if they were reciting the king of France, smearing grease and powder, indulging in femininity but fantasizing about being manly; the young nobleman Saint Lou walked up with one-piece glasses flying in front of him like a butterfly, his life was rotten, he worshipped a prostitute as a god but heroically sacrificed himself to cover the soldiers; Bergert was ambitious, and in order to approach the throne of the French academicians, he offered great courtesy to reporters by means of meat and hemp, and tried to get close to the duchess who had the vote.
With real and moving brushstrokes and vivid images, the author shows the world like Balzac the glitz and depravity of aristocratic life, and their inevitable fate of declining under the violent impact of money. Everything about the life of the bourgeois aristocracy is all it muster in their hierarchical salons: brutal competition, ungratefulness becomes the iron law of existence. The male flower-seeking willow, the female watery poplar flower, through the conclusion of a prominent "big pocket" marriage to achieve success, relying on honor rather than the appearance of the flower to power Paris. The famous aristocrat Gelmont paid attention to his origins, looked down with contempt on his guests with an arrogant and cold face, and repeated all kinds of strange and strange habits like clocks. Rose nodded her head in graceful greeting, and her smiling light figure looked at the admirers from all directions with contempt and arrogance. For example, the Duchess of Gaelmont, a saint on the stained glass of the church, hides a mediocre and pitiful life under the majestic and cold face, Charlus was brutally retaliated for her arrogance at the party of Madame Verdilan, the Duke of Gaelmont, who never gave up the pleasure of the masquerade ball even if his relatives died, Rabemar, who did his best to hold a party for the vanity of his daughter and son-in-law but finally completed a funeral meal, the nobleman who tried to gain weight to escape military service, and the nobleman who ran to save his comrades in the rain of bullets and bullets. Civilian heroes who smile at victory at the time of their death are already vulnerable.
Stream-of-consciousness fiction is a genre of fiction that emerged in Europe in the 1920s, and as soon as it appeared, it received widespread attention and became the mainstream of Western modernist fiction creation. It is not so much a creative concept as it is a creative method. Compared with the traditional critical realist novel, the stream of consciousness novel seems to break the traditional way of expression in the way of creation, but only presents the flow of the writer's creative consciousness, with the writer's personal distinct subjective consciousness and color, but in fact, like the traditional critical realist novel, it is the same in revealing the evils of the capitalist system and the destruction of human nature, showing the tragic fate of people who are overwhelmed under the double oppression of the capitalist system and money.
In 1999, "Remembrance of the Lost Water Years" was put on the screen and translated into Chinese in 2008. The French writer France said that life is too short and Proust is too long. Reading this voluminous masterpiece is undoubtedly a matter of great pride.
Marcel Proust (1871-1922): The most famous modern French novelist and pioneer of stream-of-consciousness fiction. Born into a wealthy family in Paris, he grew up with a strong love of literature and art. In 1896 he published the collection of prose and poetry, Joy and Time, and from 1895 to early 1900 he wrote the autobiographical novel Jean Sandey. In his later years, Proust had severe asthma and lived an ascetic and isolated life, working day and night on "Remembrance of the Lost Water" until it was completed. Remembrance of The Age of Water (1909-1922) is a landmark work in the history of European literature. Proust's creative autobiography combines fiction, pays attention to the spiritual world of man, is profound and delicate, pursues details and dramatic scenes with poetic magic, explores the truth beyond the living world with feelings and memories, has a Balzac-like grand and voluminous panoramic style, full of meticulous and exquisite verses, and is a great philosophical novelist.
