Proust playing the air guitar via the atlantic.com
One of my New Year’s resolutions was to reread parts of Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu.
And one of the ways I’ve been doing this is by working out with Proust.
Some of you may remember that I have Proust’s oeuvre on cassette tapes and, conveniently enough, have held on to my Walkman from years past.
So instead of being motivated by the usual ‘get-your-heart-racing’ music as I work out, I’ve been listening to one of the great stories of literature.
Merci, Marcel, for being my occasional workout coach!
via wikipedia.com
reading interrupted. 
I’m not sure what impresses me more: listening to Proust or still having a Walkman. 😉
I think having the Walkman wins as I shock myself when I realize I still own one.
🙂
I loved Carrie’s comment! Your post are always surprising!
Doesn’t everyone have a Walkman? Haha! Thanks Dannie (also for the tweet). Hope you’re summer is going well.
Uh oh, I will be aging myself big time now. I have a walkman, a turntable, vinyl albums and all my 45s in pristine condition. I’m an audiophile par excellence or maybe I can’t part with old technology! There’s just something nostalgic about listening to scratchy records 😉
eden
I got a turntable for Christmas! It’s my first one but I love it. The sound, the ritual of putting on a record, the art on the record sleeve. I can see why you love it!
You never cease to amaze. Proust + Walkman! Two things that I wouldn’t necessarily put together, yet you do it with ease.
Haha thanks!
Listening to Proust sure beats loud, heart pumping work-out music. What a wonder idea! 🙂
It sets the pace in a different way for sure!
Smashing post. I’m all for audio and have tapes galore as well as every kind of ancient listening device!
A fellow Walkman listener! I have to admit I don’t use my Walkman often but I do have some great recordings on tapes.
Yes, the walkman/Proust connection is amazing but I have never seen pictures of him. He was kind of a goofball wasn’t he? I think I need to read something by him. As always, you inspire me to read something I have never read.
He was quite social and enjoyed being part of his group of friends for sure. Unfortunately his poor health limited him especially towards the later years. He’s definitely worth reading!
Judging from the tableau vivant, I would say Proust might be rather amused by your combination of literature and technology and exercise.
Isn’t that a great photo? Yes I think it would suit his sense of humour!
He looks like he would be a lot of fun to work out with – sort of a combination Peter Sellers/Woody Allen character. Does the voice on the tape go along with that? 🙂 You’ve made me want to read Proust and find my Walkman all in one post!
Haha I never thought of Proust as a Woody Allen type. The voices on cassettes are quite good: the story is read by different French actors whose voices I quite like (it’s so important when listening to a story isn’t it?).
Yes, I’m guessing a cartoon voice or something like that might not work as well. 🙂
Letizia I love how you always think outside the box. This is very cool and you may just start a new craze……bring back the walkman.
I think the Walkman is underrated. Especially winding the tape back inside the cassette with a pen (remember that??!!).
I do Letizia, I do.
Hope the drawing classes are going well?
You’re so sweet to have remembered. They are a lot of fun. We’ve been experimenting with charcoals and shading. I love getting my hands dirty again. Hope you’re working on something wonderful these days!
Sounds great Letzia, I am working on too many things, refining picture book illustrations, editing course for novel, designing pendants for my Etsy shop. Working on small canvas, painting birds for local shop……yep too many projects but would not have it any other way.
All your projects sound wonderful, they sound great.
Sounds like a great idea Letizia – fitness of mind and body in one go!
Exactly!
I’ve always thought a book on tape (literally in this case!) is the perfect exercise companion. It makes the time fly.
It’s the first time I’ve worked out to a book on tape and I quite liked it!
Excellent~☀ 🌟★🌟 ☀ ~… The third book, which pic you’ve attached above was a cherished reading to me… Anyhow I still didn’t find the Temps Perdu, as I stopped in book 5!… Maybe one day… But, if that being the case, I’ll have to re read previous installments to refresh my memory, you know. All my best wishes, dear Letizia. Aquileana
But what a great story to have to reread!
Oof. Color me impressed! I don’t think I could keep from getting distracted, just exercising and listening to beach vacation-level books. With Proust, I’d be sure to twist an ankle Iong before he even began rhapsodizing about tea cakes…
That’s a good point and I think I would be distracted if I was listening to it for the first time! But I’ve read him before so this is a revisit, so it’s a good exercise companion.
Wow! Proust & a Walkman. Who knew? Plus exercise? You are an amazingly versatile woman. Now, will you do a couple of stretches for me? Lovely post, as always.
I will stretch for you while reciting long prose or verses of poetry, haha!
The best kind of workout! And you bring back great memories of my Walkman, I loved it! How wonderful that you still have yours 🙂
Walkmans are wonderfully nostalgic aren’t they? I love their bulk for some reason.
Haha…I know what you mean 😀
Classic hardware and classic literature, I love retro, I bet you turn a few heads. Kids these days will never understand the joys of cassettes, what a sad thought…
I wonder if cassettes would ever make a comeback like records have.
That would be awesome, I do miss holding something substantial filled with songs I taped off the radio, skilfully avoiding the DJ ruining them with his or her voice.
Proust is my favourite writer and I want to try to listen to his book and work out….. I love the picture of him with a tennis raquette (ready for Roland-Garros).
Whenever you want to listen to the cassettes, let me know!
In the words of Tina Turner: “You’re simply the best, better than all the rest.” (Did I just date myself?)
No, really. Love that you work out to Proust WITH your walkman. So awesome!
I love that you’ve managed to tie in Tina Turner to Proust – that is fantastic in itself!
You know me. 😉
I wish I could find my Walkman now – I think it got lost in the move Do’h! That picture of Proust with the tennis racquet is unlike the ‘norm’ of that era because they’re all smiling. I love it! 😀
What a good point, Dianne, it was rare for people to smile in photographs so it does make that photograph quite unique!
Well now, how do you keep from craving a madeleine after every workout? 😀
So that’s why I eat a madeleine after every workout, haha!
In the French Letizia? Well impressed. I’m afraid Emile Zola terminated any interest I may have had in French writers. I’ve long since stopped running with music – much prefer to take in the world all about.
Well, as I’m French, listening to Proust in French isn’t too impressive I’m afraid. I know what you mean, sometimes it’s nice to be outside without being plugged in and just listen to the world around you.
You are something else, Letizia. I love this idea. I also love that you still have a Walkman. I still have mine — the bright yellow kind — but have no clue where any of my cassettes are. Enjoy your workouts with Proust!
I remember that yellow Walkman! I think it may even have been the “waterproof” one but I’m not sure about that. To listen to in the rain? In the shower? Why would someone need a waterproof Walkman?
Ambitious. My vacation reading was A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin. 860 epic pages. I’m back to work today with only 20 pages left. So close!
I thought of you in Baddeck, Nova Scotia. The library window had a display of book spine poetry. I’m sure you’ve come across this or even posted on it. Cute idea.
Very cute idea indeed!!
What an epic read to have undertaken on your holiday – 20 pages left….!
wow, a walkman! That’s impressive!
Do you find you can get as much out of the story by listening to it as you do from reading? I’ve never really got into audiobooks, but it does seem like a good way to get some reading in on the move….
I’ve only listened to audiobooks in the past to help me sleep when I have jet lag so I’ve chosen celebrity autobiographies as their voices lull me to sleep but the stories are also interesting. I’ve already read Proust so listening to the story again is a joy. But I don’t think listening and reading are the same experience so, for me anyway, audiobooks only work if the book is light or a rereading. You should try it next time you have insomnia or a long airplane ride!
That’s actually a very good idea! I agree I don’t feel I get anywhere near as much from listening to a book as when I read it. Plus the joy of physical books is too much to pass up on in favour of audio!
This post passed me by initially because of all our festival activities, but it is such fun, I could not resist a comment and a belated ‘like’! I almost always do my walking to the spoken word rather than to music, although I do use an iPhone rather than a walkman. I particularly like audiobooks when they are read by the authors themselves, although this can be a bit difficult when it comes to recording the classics!! 🙂
I like when the authors themselves read their works but, as you point out, this is an issue when listening to a classic! The voice is so important for an audiobook and I’ve enjoyed some audiobooks because of the way it’s read (and I don’t think I would have liked the book as much if Ihad read it; the performance added something).
I can’t listen to a book on tape (or cd, or Walkman) – guess I’m a visual learner – hearing a novel doesn’t work for me. But if it did, I’d be right out there walking with you. But not Proust. Wow. Impressed!
I rarely listen to novels (mainly memoirs). For some reason, I can’t seem to listen to novels on tape!
Same with me!
Oh, my dear friend! We are on opposites sides of the continent but we are walking the same pathway. I’m currently walking/reading “The Lady In Gold: The extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt’s Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer.” I know that there is a movie, but I really like walking with Adele Bloch-Bauer.
What a great walking companion!