C. K. Scott-Moncrieff

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Marcel Proust, An English Tribute

Gaius Petronius Arbiter

Petroni Gaius Petronius Arbiter to Nero

William Burnaby

""Deep grief gnaws at my vitals and drags me down, almost to the very doors of death itself," moans Quartrilla, drawing near Encolpius, her eyes glistening. "I am afraid that, with the careless impulsiveness of youth, you may divulge, to the common herd, what you witnessed in the shrine of Priapus -- and reveal the rites of the Gods to the rabble." ""I stretch out my suppliant hands to your knees. I beg and pray you do not make a mockery and a joke of our nocturnal rites . . . nor lay bare the secrets of so many years," she whispers -- and tells the young man how he must pay . . . by "curing" her body of the "ills" besetting her." The Rabelaisian "Satyricon" of Petronius, one of the most infamous books of all time, follows the rogue Encolpius and his serving boy Giton as they engage in fortune-hunting adventure, amorous misadventure and extravagant feasting in the Rome of the first century, in the time of Nero's court.

The Satyricon

The Song of Roland is as canonical and significant as the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf. It extols the chivalric ideals in the France of Charlemagne through the exploits of Charlemagne's nephew, the warrior Roland, who fights bravely to his death in a legendary battle. Against the bloody backdrop of the struggle between Christianity and Islam, The Song of Roland remains a vivid portrayal of medieval life, knightly adventure, and feudal politics.

The Song of Roland

Marcel Proust

Swann's Way tells two related stories, the first of which revolves around Marcel, a younger version of the narrator, and his experiences in, and memories of, the French town Combray. Inspired by the "gusts of memory" that rise up within him as he dips a Madeleine into hot tea, the narrator discusses his fear of going to bed at night. He is a creature of habit and dislikes waking up in the middle of the night not knowing where he is. He claims that people are defined by the objects that surround them and must piece together their identities bit by bit each time they wake up. The novel now carries the reader back fifteen years to relate the second story--that of the love affair between Swann and Odette. Swann does not know that Odette has a terrible reputation and, thinking she will be harder to seduce than she really is, takes up an interest in her. He finds her only vaguely attractive, however, until one day when he realizes that she resembles Botticelli's beautiful rendering of Jethro's daughter in his painting Zipporrah.

C. K. Scott-Moncrieff

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