"In Search of Lost Time" feels like such a rubbish translation, goddamnit. Where'd the "re" go? C'mon man. And surely "temps perdu" has a connotation of this being some actual period of subjectively experienced time, now past, however brief - something that "lost time" absolutely fails to capture. "Lost time"? Insofar as the phrase actually makes any sense, it's the sort of thing you might see on the letter you receive when you get fired from your retail job for spending too much time on the toilet.

Wikipedia says: "first translated into English as `Remembrance of Things Past'". Much better.

There's a phenomenon where people (like me) who have read half of In Search of Lost Time start reading books about In Search of Lost Time in order to put off reading the rest of it. Technically, you haven't given up, you're just doing research to better appreciate it. I feel like this article may be about one of those books.

“Food writing today recognizes our connections to food as legitimate, and recognizes food for all the varying things it can be…”

So before 2022, no one liked to eat and it was all ham sandwiches

Cringe

I tried to read this 3x. He lost me after 2-3 pages of describing what it’s like to wake up suddenly.

I guess because the book is famous you’re supposed to slog through boring starts but I couldn’t do it.

I had the same problem trying to get through the first 10% of War and Peace. Seemingly dozens of characters standing around at a dinner party with no discernible plot.

Recently the English expression "Save the Day!" struck me, what does it mean? How can you save a day? They all go by.

The answer of course (?) is : Saving the day, is the opposite of wasting the day. So don't waste the day. That's how you save it.

I really enjoyed this article and more generally this site. Are there other similar literature sites people can recommend?