solo [ENGLISH] The Guermantes Way by Marcel Proust - vik

[Newgatenovelist]

Section 8 is PL OK.
Erin

[Newgatenovelist]

As you were very careful with pronunciation in an earlier chapter, there's one note for section 09.

23.16-23.19 - check pronunciation of sidereal
"There is something sidereal about her…
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/sidereal

[Newgatenovelist]

I have one note for section 10. There's a paragraph that's about 90% recorded, which then breaks off just before the end of a sentence. I'm guessing it might have been an aborted version. The passage starts at 31.52:

Meanwhile the winter was drawing to an end.

and goes on to 33.04, when it cuts off abruptly:

...the melodies written there which our memory could not-

Erin

[Newgatenovelist]

There's one note for section 11 - it's 84.1 dB.

I hope your week is going well!

[Newgatenovelist]

Section 12 is PL OK.

I've been concentrating on the PL notes, but I wanted to pause for a moment and say how glad I am that you're doing this book. It's really a public service to make such an important work available.

[Newgatenovelist]

Section 13 is PL OK.

[Newgatenovelist]

Section 14 is PL OK.

It's yet a little way off, but for most of September and bits of October I'll be away from my desk and, I suspect, slow to respond. I'm not running off, but PLing is likely to be sporadic.

[Tuberous Chairs]

Sections 5, 6, 10 and 11 corrected and reuploaded. I don't know when I switched from a Logitech to a Marantz microphone but I've tried both for the pronunciation problems and neither sound like the rest of the recording so I think I'll just have to accept patina and sidereal being wrong. Even Stephen Fry gives inconsistent pronunciations of Gryffindor and Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone so I guess I can allow myself the occasional mistake with obscure words.

Thank you for your kind comments about doing this book. I love reading Proust and hope it brings others pleasure when it is eventually done.

[Newgatenovelist]

Sections 5, 6, 10 and 11 are PL OK.

By all means go ahead and mark sections 7 and 9 PL OK. I fully sympathise with changing your setup mid-project. I've done that, and in one instance had to bin about a third of a novel because the sound was just so different. I've not noticed a dramatic change within these sections, but I know how hard it can be at the best of times to get a match that doesn't sound patched in. Not to worry. I point out small things and leave it up to the reader to make a change or not, if it's feasible. Some readers are happy to press on and others prefer to fine tune, so it's more a question of what suits the narrator. I like the idea of everything being absolutely flawless, but I don't think it truly makes much difference for most listeners who, if they're like me, are just happy to have the book. These are more notes for future reference, if anything. It's more important to do the recording than to worry about the pronunciation of whichever less commonly used word Moncrieff chose when he completed the translation.

I don't know if you'd prefer to listen or to avoid it while you're recording, but this weekend I noticed there's a 10-part adaptation of In Search of Lost Time on Radio 4 with Derek Jacobi narrating a full cast recording.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00082zt

PS I've not heard Stephen Fry reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone but it's immensely comforting that someone with as much experience as he has slips up occasionally. It makes me feel slightly less inadequate.

[Tuberous Chairs]

Sections 15, 16, 17 and 18 uploaded.

I'm torn between wanting my recordings flawless and accepting that I'm an amateur. I may come back to those problem sections later but I'm pressing on for the time being.

I listened to the first episode of the Jacobi Proust. It was very good but I have so many podcasts to listen to I don't know when I'll get round to listening to it all.

[Newgatenovelist]

It's taken longer than I would like to listen, but section 15 is PL OK. The Parisian drawing room is such a contrast to the early sunsets that it's perfect listening material for this time of year.

Don't worry unduly about making your recordings 'perfect'. If it's any consolation, I struggle with this as well. No matter how many times I record something I'm not happy with it, and it's never anything like how it sounds in my head. I had hoped that that internal struggle, or the barrier of perfectionism, would lessen as I recorded more, but I suppose it's something we just have to grapple with.

[Newgatenovelist]

Section 16 is PL OK. I hope your week gets off to a good start.
Erin

[Newgatenovelist]

For section 17, I have a few optional notes. Most pertain to pronunciations, and where Oxford/Lexico and Howjsay provided the same pronunciation, and only one, I've just given the link for the former website. If you're having trouble hearing it, I'll find another way.

It's entirely up to you if you'd like to change these. I understand if you want to tweak, and I'll also understand if it's not going to be worth it to get a new snippet.

1.31-1.33
…without a vestige of talent…
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/vestige

11.03-11.06
And the requisite conditions are the same…
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/requisite

18.08-18.11
…proof of her complete inability to understand Maeterlinck.
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/ma ... nt_maurice
http://howjsay.com/search.php?word=Maeterlinck
Howjsay gives more than one, so it's up to you which you prefer.

21.11-21.19
…the plate of little cakes that was being held out to him.
[Why certainly […] They look excellent.]
"This gentleman makes…
The bit in the square brackets - is this out of place, or possibly extra material?

[Newgatenovelist]

There are two notes for section 18 - again, these are at your discretion.

5.53-5.57
…especially as there's not a vestige of truth in the suggestion.
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/vestige

11.54, omission
told him the truth as to the part played by Henry, [Picquart] or du Paty de Clam,

[Tuberous Chairs]

Sections 17 and 18 uploaded with corrections. I must revise the pronunciations of vestige and requisite! The paragraph in which M de Guermantes asks for a sponge cake should be there - I checked the French as well as the translation. Project Gutenberg has quite a few transcription errors and this is one.

[Newgatenovelist]

Sections 17 and 18 are spot PL OK.

I know there are errors in PG, I'm just never sure when they'll manifest themselves. They can't really help but creep in, given the length of some of the books on the site. At least this one has been resolved!

[Tuberous Chairs]

Section 19 uploaded.

Good news - Martin Geeson is back on social media.

[Newgatenovelist]

Two notes for section 19 - one pronunciation and one change of tense that I think shifts the meaning a bit.

6.09-6.18
…not that he was not himself in the habit of making scathing references to his Jewish origin, to that side of his ancestry which came from somewhere near Sinai.
https://www.lexico.com/definition/sinai

25.32-25.34
We were [heard are] both silent.


I am very glad to hear it.

[Tuberous Chairs]

Corrected Section 19 uploaded and Section 20 added.

Currently reading William Carter's 900 page biography of Proust.

[Newgatenovelist]

Section 19 is spot PL OK. For section 20:

13.46-13.51
…before I saw him, to hear the rustling of the elves and the dance of the kob-olds…
https://www.lexico.com/definition/kobold

14.48-15.09, alternate takes
"Gracious! I must fly at once if I'm to get to Mme. De Saint-Ferréol's, and I'm dining with Mme. Leroi."

And she rose without bidding me good-bye. She had just caught

I must fl-

"Gracious! I must fly at once if I'm to get to Mme. de
Saint-Ferréol's, and I'm dining with Mme. Leroi."

And she rose without bidding me good-bye.


I've not read that biography, but I hope you enjoy it. It seems so hard to fit an entire life into a biography, and when I've picked up weighty ones I've generally liked their ability to expand in a way that less bulky ones simply can't.