Within a Budding Grove: And Then There's Maude: 01/21/10
I'm now up to page 270 in Within a Budding Grove. Most of these thirty pages focus on Odette and her missteps in high society. Her marriage to Charles Swann and taken her from just pretending to actually being part of those social circles. The dialogue and descriptions of her interactions with the other noble ladies shows how over her head she now is and how unwelcome she is in their circles.
Throughout this section the character who came to mind most strongly was Maude Findlay. She started as a one off character as Edith's cousin in All in the Family and was spun-off to her own show. KOFY TV, a local station where I live, has been showing reruns of the old CBS series and I suppose that's why Maude is so fresh in my mind.
Each half an hour show has the same formula. It's as predictable as The Incredible Hulk. The episode begins with Maude (or someone close to her) having a problem. Maude will then put on an act of being the best person to solve the problem and even if she is (it does sometimes happen) she makes such an arrogant ass of herself that no one wants to listen to her. That's part of Odette's problem too. She has bragged and talked so much in her past that she has annoyed the very people she wants to impress. As the half hour runs out of the episode everyone will come to their senses and they will apologize to each other much as Charles and Odette and their closet friends will always end up making up.
See you back next week for my thoughts on pages 271-300.
Swann's Way posts:
Lisa's First Word, Baby Mine, I Sing the Body Electric, The Lady in Pink, Bleeding Gums Murphy, Caturday, Cherry Blossoms, Marge Simpson, Liana Telfer, Bender in Love, Margaret Dumont, Hyacinth Bucket, Rose, Mildred Krebs, Pepé Le Pew, Jack Harness, Cordelia Chase, Saffron, Thomas O'Malley.
Within a Budding Grove posts:
Nanowrimo, Cheers, Robert Langdon, Kif and Amy, Dead Weight, Clark Kent, Lex Luthor, Paris is a Lonely Town, And Then There's Maude, A Cafe Terrace at Night, North by Northwest, Top Hat, Chez Deetz, Ah, My Goddess!, David, Auntie Mame, Brunhilde Esterhazy, Gusteau's, Shell Beach.
books | fiction | Marcel Proust | 1919
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