Czapski on Vanity in Proust

Czapski says that Prousts view on vanity to an extent is influenced by Pascal and Anatole France. At any rate, Czapski himself, so he says, draws a pascalian conclusion from Proust's work. He contrasts this view with the opinion of the polish translator of Proust, Boy-Zelenski, who thinks that with a figure like the wonderful Baron Charlus there is an awful lot of humour and love of life in the Recherche. Czapski though refers to Pascal and his anti-sensual approach to life and admits this seemingly paradoxial view when one considers that Proust was influenced by Anatole France. For a more hedonistic view speaks also that Proust did enjoy life and all it has to offer to the senses, in a letter to Daniel Halévy Proust says he wishes only one thing, to enjoy the pleasures of (physical) love.
And here Czapski points out a very important point, that in all those thousands of pages of the Recherche God is not mentioned, nor any absolute idea or anything absolute or a hunt for some absolute ideal. Which is precisely what leads Czapski to think that there is a sort of ash-like Pascalian aftertaste after all in those perishable pleasures of life. An ash-like aftertaste that lead Proust to take to his lonely room and shut out the world and to serve in contrast - and here the absolute comes back - to serve his art which for him was the absolute which of course - as Proust himself knew very well - was and is unattainable.
Czapski then shortly distincts five kinds of vanity in Proust.
The first is the vanity of society, of superficial relations in society. His example here is Swann who tells the Guermantes that he is about to die soon, she was just about to go to a party and just leaves him standing so as not to come to late to the party - yet her husband notices that her shoes do not fit and so they postpone leaving. They rather come to late because of wrong shoes than instead of listening to their dying friend.
Then there is the vanity of the aristocracy, the aristocracy, in danger now, because all those snobbish americans take over and enter their circles.
The perfect example for the vanity of the young and beautiful is Odette, who had so many lovers and in the last volume of the Recherche, finally old and senile, people act superficial deferential towards her, but actually just laugh at her. And here writes Proust that at that point the narrator for the first time could feel some sort of sympathy for her.
The example for the vanity and nullity of fame is the Berma, especially the scene where the daughter of the Berma with her husband feel oblieged to go to the reception of the Berma, they sit there and bore themselves to death, and just rather want to be at the reception of the rival of the Berma. In the end they annoyed leave and the old Berma is alone, too.
The Baron Charlus is the example for the vanity of love, he who in younger years participated in all sorts of masochistical practices, chained to matter like Prometheus to his rock, Czapski writes, he ends up old and senile, can't walked anymore yet is gently being cared for by Jupien who is the only one who stays with Charlus. Albertine of course has to be mentioned, and the story related to her Czapski calls one scream of despair and a ruthless exploration of jealousy. However, Czapski notes how Proust as someone who has loved so much in the end speaks so desinterested, noninvolved about love. He says in the end love is useful, a useful thing against the glamorous and numbing distractions of society which can be so harmful for the writer. Better have a bit of sensual love as antidote, so Proust. And this is an important contrast to the complete damnation of everything sensual of someone like Pascal. A bit of sensual love also, for Proust did not want to be like this horse in the ancient times that was only fed on roses. According to him, the artist has to be lonely, does not have to have disciples or followers for they weaken the artist. Czapski says that Proust only allows (accepts a tiny little bit, writes Czapski) some sensual love for his views on love are so pessimistic that they only lead to some heightened awareness of loneliness and cut precious wounds.

Czapski on Proust

Józef Czapski wrote on Proust in 1941 when he was a polish war prisoner of the USSR, in a monastery in Gryazovets in the winter 1940-41. The prisoners had to do forced labour, yet due to illness Czapski was exempted and had to do only lighter work which allowed him to prepare lectures on Proust.
For his notes used the technic of mindmaps of which some are reprinted in his book. They are quite interesting, but in Polish. The prisoners were allowed to give lectures to themselves. Czapski did not have an edition of Proust's work with him, but prepared his lectures solely out of memory. His book shows very solid backgroundknowledge of french culture.
He starts with a scetch of the cultural background of Proust’s time in which he embeds Proust's biography. Interesting here is the focus on Degas and how Czapski connects him with Mallarmé, how Czapski points out the critical potential – critical of society - of the paintings of Degas of whom he says that he has a cruel, precise eye which is often also said about Proust too.
Czapski calls Proust’s oeuvre as a ‘Summa’, intersting association to Thomas of Aquinas, Summa... Summa seems to be the perfect name to signify Proust’s book. Then, very interesting, the reference to Curtius and that Proust’s style is Germanic because of those long sentences. – and Curtius emphasized those Germanic elements. And then, this is not only a reference to a Germanic style but also to a French style of the 16th century who himself was linked to a latin style. Czapski emphasizes that Proust’s book is not about the facts of life but about the thoughts that arise out of the shocks of facts. Here one can find also a very good defension against those who see him as snob. Proust’s longing to look beyond the facts and what rules life, to find out about these invisible laws of being.
In this book one can also find a good & of course very obvious refutation of the snob-prejudice: Proust describes everything with same scrutiny. He has also written some letter to a Lady sometime who called him a snob and in which he explained why he is none, but alas, the Lady has thrown the letter away. Other things in this book discussed are the connection Proust-Pascal, the questions of vanity and love and Czapski continually and comparatively explains Proust's book in contrast to Tolstoy and Dostoevsky.

This should merely serve as a simple introduction, passages of this book are being examined later more thoroughly.

His book is available in French and German:
Czapski; Proust contre la déchéance, Paris 1987
Czapski; Proust - Vorträge im Lager Grjasowez, Berlin 2006