Tuesday, March 11, 2008

TODAY'S TWD: MARCEL, MORESO

Owen:
You take these things for granted.
It's only when they're slipping away
You realise how amazing they are.
Jack:
"Only in suffering do we recognise beauty".
Owen:
Yeah yeah, who said that?
Jack:
Proust.
Owen:
You've read Proust?
Jack:
Yeah, well, no.
We dated for a while. He was really immature.
'Torchwood'

I'll leave it to Wikipedia to summarize Proust:

"Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (July 10, 1871 – November 18, 1922) was a French novelist, essayist and critic, best known as the author of À la recherche du temps perdu (in English, In Search of Lost Time; earlier translated as Remembrance of Things Past), a monumental work of twentieth-century fiction published in seven parts from 1913 to 1927.

Proust, who was homosexual, was one of the first European novelists to treat homosexuality openly and at length.

His life and family circle changed considerably between 1900 and 1905. In February 1903, Proust's brother Robert married and left the family home. His father died in September of the same year. Finally, and most crushingly, Proust's beloved mother died in September 1905, leaving him a considerable inheritance. (In today's terms, a principal of about $6 million, with a monthly income of about $15,000.) His health throughout this period continued to deteriorate."
Jack may have dated Proust before Mrs. Proust passed away. It would probably be Proust's reclusiveness and reluctance to leave his home and his mother that would make Jack tag the writer as being immature.

Proust may have been in the forefront of Jack's mind just prior to these last two episodes ("Reset" & "Dead Man Walking") because of Torchwood's experience with "Adam", who stole Jack's "remembrances of things past".....

And maybe Jack was attracted to Proust because he dressed like an earlier incarnation of the Doctor.....

BCnU!
Toby OB

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

As I recall, Lorelai Gilmore dated Rory's teacher in an early episode of Gilmore Girls and borrowed his copy of Proust.

Hugh