How to Listen to Proust

Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time has been an imposing treasure of French literature for 100 years.  Clocking in at 5400 pages, it is published in seven volumes:

• Swann's Way
• Within a Budding Grove
• The Guermantes Way
• Sodom and Gomorrah
• The Captive
• The Fugitive
• Time Regained

So, let's start with Swann's Way.  You can always read it, but if you could read it either the original C.K. Scott Moncrieff translation (which this blog entry will focus on), the 1981 Terence Kilmartin revision or the popular 1992 Modern Library re-revision by D.J. Enright.  The C.K. Scott Moncrieff translation was realized between 1922 and 1930, so it is out of copyright and therefore the cheapest solution.  Moreover, all of the audiobook renditions are of the Scott Moncrieff translation.  

There are two main audiobook versions of Swann's Way, one read by the ever-popular George Guidall and one by Neville Jason.  I read the George Guidall version in hopes of him finishing the series, but that, unfortunately, shall not come to pass, most likely, and I continued the series read by Neville Jason.  Both audiobooks are available for less than $5.  While the list price of both books is around $20, you can buy the Neville Jason version for $2.99 if you buy the Kindle version as well for $0.99, making the total purchase $3.98.  Similarly, the George Guidall version is $4.99, and you don't even have to buy the Kindle version.  

Within a Budding Grove recorded by Neville Jason is available for $2.99.  If you want to see if you're a Proustian, go ahead and buy those two books, but I have to warn you, the remainder aren't cheap, and it's tricky to buy them.  The Guermantes Way by Jason is $31.84, but you can buy it with one credit, which costs $14 to $21.  Sodom and Gomorrah by Jason is also available for one credit.  

Then it gets tricky.  Neville Jason recorded books V through VII in 2012, but due to copyright issues, the three volumes are not available in America.  Here's what you have to do: 

• Go to eBay.
• Buy The Captive, unabridged (16 CDs) for around $55.
• Buy The Fugitive, unabridged for around $30.
• Buy Time Regained, unabridged for around $30.

Note: Even reputable sellers are known to sell pirated discs.  After I finished writing this, I became aware that I had spent $55 on an illicit copy of The Captive.  Worse yet, the 15th disc was blank.  I requested a full refund. Still here?  Congratulations!  You've spent $150 for about 150 hours of Proust.  The last three volumes have to be imported from England; that's why they're so expensive.  Pro hint: don't buy from American sellers. Now, let's figure out how to get The Captive on your phone.  

• Download the free program Free Rip MP3 Converter Basic.
• Install Free Rip MP3 Converter Basic.

Now, normally, when you rip a CD to MP3 format using Free Rip MP3 Converter Basic, there will be a database of the different tracks, so there's not much trouble in ripping the CDs.  With audiobooks, I have found, it isn't so easy.  

• Insert The Captive, CD1 into your computer's CD/DVD/BluRay drive (if you don't have one, you can buy a USB CD/DVD drive off Amazon for $40 or less).
• Open Free Rip MP3 Converter Basic.
• On the right side of your screen, click on "CD info."
• From here, you can rename the artist as "Marcel Proust."
• Rename the album as "The Captive, CD1."
• Rename the album year as "2012."
• Rename the genre as "Audiobook."
• On the left side of your screen, rename "Track 1" as "1-1."
• Rename "Track 2" as "1-2."
• Rename "Track 3" through "Track 8" as "1-3" through "1-8."
• Click "Rip Disc."
• Insert The Captive, CD2 into your computer's CD drive.
• Rename the information and tracks as before, but rename the album "The Captive, CD2;" "Track 1" as "2-1;" and so forth.  

This will take some time, but you're a Proustian, aren't you?  The good news is that you might not have to rename all those tracks, should Free Rip Converter Basic upload my work.  The reason for all this renaming is so that once you get The Captive on your phone, your phone will see a nice, ordered set of music and play it in order.  Now, to get it on your phone (this is instructions for how to get it on an iPhone; for others see the many other sites dedicated to those phones):

• Download iTunes, if you haven't done so before.  
• Go to Desktop>Marcel Proust.
• Plug in your iPhone.
• Click on "Device." 
• Click on "Music."
• Select all tracks (there'll be over 100 of them).
• Drag them into the "Music" folder in iTunes.

You didn't drag them into "Audiobooks" because Free Rip Converter Basic will tag them as music files.  I don't know how to tag them as audiobooks, and this is good enough for me.  

For information on the Swann's Way Graphic Novel, click here.