Product Description

Sodom and Gomorrah opens a new phase of In Search of Lost Time. While watching the pollination of the Duchess de Guer-mantes’s orchid, the narrator secretly observes a sexual encounter between two men. “Flower and plant have no conscious will,” Samuel Beckett wrote of Proust’s representation of sexuality. “They are shameless, exposing their genitals. And so in a sense are Proust’s men and women . . . shameless. There is no question of right and wrong.”

For this authoritative English-language edition, D. J. Enright has revised the late Terence Kilmartin’s acclaimed reworking of C. K. Scott Moncrieff’s translation to take into account the new definitive French editions of Á la recherché du temps perdu (the final volume of these new editions was published by the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade in 1989).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #360643 in Books
• Published on: 1999-02-16
• Released on: 1999-02-16
• Original language: French
• Dimensions: .1 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 784 pages

From AudioFile
SODOM AND GOMORRAH is the eighth in Naxos AudioBooks' adaptation of REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST. In this volume, our narrator, Proust, visits the coastal resort of Balbec for a second time and observes the homosexual behavior of his acquaintances. Neville Jason makes vivid distinctions among the singular characters, such as the aging Baron de Charlus, the insouciant violinist Charles Morel and the pretentious Mme. Verdurin. But Jason is particularly skillful in portraying Proust's dramatic shift from observer to participant when he discovers his beloved Albertine's preference for women. The abridgment is excellent--the mood and progression of the text are enhanced by a marvelous selection of piano and violin music--and the reader feels not the least bit cheated out of the whole--only, perhaps, the regret in having to wait, with a Proustian longing, for the next recording in the cycle. J.H.L. (c) AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Review
“The thing about Proust is his combination of the utmost sensibility with the utmost tenacity. He searches out these butterfly shades to the last grain.”—Virginia Woolf

From the Back Cover
“The thing about Proust is his combination of the utmost sensibility with the utmost tenacity. He searches out these butterfly shades to the last grain.”—Virginia Woolf