Saturday, September 19, 2009

Literary Lab Quote of the Day #2

Unfortunately, having formed the habit of thinking aloud, [my aunt] did not always take care to see that there was no one in the adjoining room, and I would often hear her saying to herself: "I must not forget that I never slept a wink"--for "never sleeping a wink" was her great claim to distinction, and one admitted and respected in our household vocabulary: in the morning Francoise would not "wake" her, but would simply "go in" to her; during the day, when my aunt wished to take a nap, we used to say just that she wished to "ponder" or to "rest"; and when in conversation she so far forgot herself as to say "what woke me up," or "I dreamed that," she would blush and at once correct herself.

~from In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust

5 comments:

  1. Ah, Marcel, pointing out the flaws of those he loves the most. He had a great eye for character details.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree, Scott. A a great eye for details. Davin, I can see why you want to write like him, and a sense, I think you do have hints of him in your writing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I thought this was about you and your aunt and could hear your voice in it. Was surprised to find it a quote at the end.

    It sure is a lovely slice of writing and I think the characterization is quite well done.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Petula, Proust was someone whose work I recently discovered. It definitely seemed strange to me, but then I realized how much I could learn from him. I think he's amazing.

    Scott, I agree. And, He took the time to really expose all the details of chracters' personalities. He taught me to slow down in my writing.

    Michelle, I think Proust helped me in many ways. I find myself studying other writers more, but Proust somehow affected me without my knowing it. I think he's quite original.

    Tess this is indeed lovely. I had a hard time decided which little snippet to post. I'm glad you liked it.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.