At some point one just begins to tune out.
While subject matter is interesting Proust is just painfully slow going far as reading. People crack the first few pages, get bored out of their skulls and that is end of things. Now understand why so many boxed sets of Proust sit nearly new and pristine in used book shops, thrift stores, etc. Inquired if one was reading book as part of an assignment or pleasure, when informed former he just shook his head in amusement. A young Frenchman living in NYC spied me reading the book while waiting for bus and shook his head. Recently tried once again to get through first book of ' À la recherche du temps perdu ' by carrying Swann's way nearly everywhere went (subways, doctor's waiting room, airplanes, etc.), but result was same again. My French friends from France and Canada said they all dreaded being assigned Proust, with most resorting to various ways of getting through assigned work. Got the dreaded assignment again in college (another French lit class), and once again barely got through first fifty pages of Swann's Way before seeking a way out. Tried in high school as part of French lit class, and quickly succumbed to finding Cliff notes.
