I spent 20 years trying to read and interpret finnegans wake.(while nibbling on madeleines)…Every single page worthy of many other writers novels. “It took me over eight years to write this…it should take you at least that long to read AND understand it” JJ
Hey Heikkinen Cousin! A long time ago they used to say that none of us scattered Soumalinen Heikkinens were related. But thanks to the technology of the new millennium I think it's probably true that most of us are cousins! Julie B Heikkinen Wolf
I'm 83 and reading Proust's "In Search of Lost Time" for the first time. I so wish that I had discovered him when I lived in Paris as a young man. However I am told that in order to appreciate this great work one needs to be at the right time in their life. In any case, this is the best literature I have ever read and it touches deep into my soul.
@@prarawat1821I was seventy-five when I undertook a degree course with the OU. I gained my BA and Masters in English Literature and Language. Never to old to learn, my life feels so enriched by by studying the great writers. Proust enters my daily life in so many ways. The scent of ordinary everyday aromas, the sights and sounds of the past, come into my life frequently. Enjoy literature!
MARCEL AND I. I've been reading Proust my whole life. I'm 75, and began reading his work at 15, have kept him on nightstands, in suitcases, briefcases, bookshelves all over the world to the great amusement of my progeny, who love to see what I've stacked on whatever piece of furniture has a light on it next to the bed I'm sleeping in when they manage to catch up with me for a visit. Ah...Proust Mom, right there with the National Enquirer, latest JAMA, Architectural Digest, a treatise on particle physics.and this thing in Arabic don 't explain...
WOW, encontrei neste mundo um ser semelhante a mim. Isto é maravilhoso. " Descobri" Proust aos 30, estou com 61 e na sexta releitura da Recherche, sempre descobrindo coisas e com mais prazer. Todo dia tomo um livro da estante um livro da série e leio 10 páginas aleatoriamente. Muito, mas muito prazer em saber que há neste mundo alguém como eu. Forte abraço, Patrícia.
Why do the producers feel the need for music. If we want to hear music, we can hit our music app. Very distracting! Altho it is an excellent choice in music.
The entire 12 volumes are a challenge and, so far, I've managed to read three of them (in French). What this otherwise very accomplished documentary doesn’t highlight is Proust's style, which for me is uniquely captivating. The convoluted sentences, some of them spanning over a page, have a life of their own. Reading these words is akin to physical intoxication. If you lose the thread of the meaning, it somehow isn't important; the pleasure is in the language itself.
If you try to read Proust's magnum opus like you would plow through a regular novel, you're likely to get bogged down and quit after Swann's Way if not before. Best to take it slowly, spread it out over several months, and perhaps take a break between each of the 7 books that comprise it.
My chance to read Proust (in English translation) came courtesy of a broken ankle while living in a third floor walkup. Warmed up with Ulysses and then dove into Proust. Bliss.
I read Proust when I was unemployed and it was a really great experience. I felt like a different person after reading the entire In Search of Lost Time.
I agree. Usually, music in the background is very annoying to me. This selection, however, was not. I rather enjoyed it, and that's saying something as I'm so persnickety about 🎶 🎵 music.
Tremendous! Enlightening, compassionate to make a reader who tried once, try again more fully equipped many years later to surrender to the world of Marcel Proust.
In Richard Ellmann's biography "James Joyce," Joyce met Proust one rainy day in Paris. The two giants happened to share a taxi. Proust asked Joyce to roll up the window, and Joyce said "No." End of story!
Reynaldo Hahn, Proust's early lover, was Venezuelan, not Argentinian, born in Caracas. He moved to Paris with his family when he was five years old , never to return.
I've Just discovered your channel, and as well being an aspiring writer myself, I have taken a great fondness in watching as many documentaries as possible, with whatever time available, finding each one intensely inspiring and some (like the episode of Oscar Wilde's life) somewhat saddening, as the laws, social attitudes as well as acceptance towards others deemed "different" than what is allowed by those who adhere fervently and without exception to "mainstream social norms", and admonish as well as ostracize at times violently those who won't "adhere" to these so-called "social norms", a fiercely unneeded policing of other's basic human rights to engage in lifestyles that they see fit as well ways of living that doesn't harm society or those whom live within it.
If his mother was Jewish as stated. Marcel Proust would not be classified as "partially Jewish" but as a Jewish writer. This is because the Jewish identity is only passed down by matrilineal descent.
I'm not actually an actress but I'm so used to interacting with broad classes or circumstances of people in life and I can relate to so many back grounds!
Indeed. Like most films and documentaries these days, the human voice is suffocated by the lack of volume control orchestrated by sound engineers. Pun intended.
Please consider that music is as diminished by loud narratives as narratives are by loud music. Would anyone consider writing on top of a master painting?
Sounds very relaxing and established social dynamics....leserly structured ....I had some tip of this in my summer holidays at my different relations small estates ....meeting professors, writer's... engineers....as my Great Aunt hostess with mostess...and I had much breathing space and good food
It the music of the time- Debussy Ravel Satie - Debussy’s string quartet and the Arabesque work so well together- the music contributes to the art of the period
Read him in French, read all the 12 volumes translated by CK Scott Moncrieff (except for the final volume; perhaps his task was too great ) And read the newer translation by Terence Kilmartin to which I was introduced by a friend,, a young radical insufficiently known poet called Niall Quinn whom I suggest you search out and read, if you have the courage....
so so. the map of house and garden in Illiers is something I wish I'd seen sooner. Right now I am picking my way through the 2 volume bio by George Painter. Coal mining feels like a fair analogy. I know as much about coal mining as high society but coal mining is what comes to mind. Proust's life was not as isolated as this would make you think; his close, long relationships with his driver, his typists and the varied domestic staff who catered to his needs were crucial and valued, but there's a limit to what you can fit into a 30min doco.
Elizabeth: Music is problem in so many presentations. I do not understand why the producers feel it is necessary at all in any narrative. It adds absolutely nothing and is a great distraction. Imagine a great symphony drowned out by a loud booming voice?
Love this channel. I love reading. Proust was a poet I never read tho. I felt with all the new inventions and changes happening during his time, add the fact he never had to hussle up a meal, I felt anyone cld just look out their window and write the wonders they saw But I give him a chance 50 yrs later 😊
Very puzzling how early this starts getting things wrong: thus at 2m27s in, the screen shows the words 'La recherché du temps perdu' then 'Remembrance of things past' - as if either or both of these were the title of P's novel...(neither is.)
Excellent video and narrator, but why does it have to have a piano playing all through, it is distracting, adds nothing and is quite unnecessary. Shame.
I was thinking the same. His homosexuality is deliberately white-washed in this travesty of a documentary. You can not separate his homosexuality from his writing and life. They were inextricably intertwined.
After a good start, spoiled by referring to the Duchesse de Jermantes. The u after the g makes the g hard - thus pronounced Gurmantes, spelt Guermantes, though you later do pronounce it correctly. The composer in the novel is Vinteuil, not Vanteuil. I suspect a large proportion of viewers of this video will be Proust fans who know the books well, and are going to pick up these unnecessary errors. Gide was not the owner of the NRF, but one of the directors. It's "L' ombre de..." not "L' ambre de..."
I have studied Proust for over 50 years, and this bio has left out significant chunks of key elements of his work and inspiration, and misrepresented a few things, too. But I think it may well pique enough interest to get more people reading the novel.
It's very difficult to relate this to others....and the natural alien divides....often I can relate to various friends but sometimes when they all meet up with me there is always some fake betrayal they go away with....so I wide up with none of them...lol
Having English friends over the years, I'd much prefer hearing these narrations by people with their accent, one that is fun and easy to understand to Americans, without the 'ohhh tooo tooo' pronunciations of every video on youtube Ive heard. The friends all are Londoners.
Coyly inaccurate on some things (Proust' homosexuality and its role in shaping the character of Albertine) but outright wrong on others: Reynaldo Hahn was Venezuelan (born in Caracas in 1874), not Argentinian, as the narrator blithely informs us.
Sexist dominating Jewish Moma comment...not acceptable. This narrator is nauseatingly smug . And it is shocking not to mention the very loyal Celeste without whom Proust's work would not survive. Further....we now know the 'girls' Proust was ogling in Normandy were in fact boys...and the main one...Albertine was in fact a lad...whom Proust loved in a prolonged neurotic kind of way...until ' Albertine's' death. I have walked the Guemantes and Swann's Way twice on different occasions. Visited Aunt Leonie's house...and the village church..
@@Mrrossj01 Before having such a definite opinion it is better to keep to the facts. Celeste took some of Proust's last dictation due to his being near to dying and Celste being almost the only person Proust then still trusted. The dictation she took down included some final excerpts of the book (some not even included in editions of the novel). Most of the novel was published during Proust's lifetime and Celeste was not the amanuensis for these.
My life is filled with social extrema and middle ground....it's strange like I was in children's shelters as well and it's such a contrast....but funny actually...
Dave has told women to get a job, even 2 jobs. This one was at home with the babies. I was surprised he didn't tell her the blog, was a hobby. Then go back to the $35 hr job for 10 hrs a week.
I read Proust's works immediately after reading his detailed biography. His production is reminiscent of the tea-coffee relationship from Little Women. Everyone dreams of her own and of a happy marriage. The book is interesting only because the author openly hints to us that he is gay. Perhaps that is why his books were not published in our country. Just like Herve Guibert. What can I say. The whole work is boring and the dialogues in it are far-fetched.
The music is too loud and, more importantly, Proust was gay. He didn't fall in love with those women - he admired them. I won't be subscribing to this channel.
SORRY, BUT YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT REYNALDO HAHN WAS FROM CARACAS (VENEZUELA), NOT FROM ARGENTINA😮 Attention a votre recherche cher Monsieur de l Angleterre😊
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
I spent an entire summer reading Proust when I was 20 years old. It remains one of the greatest experiences of my life.
Right on!
I did the same. It was a summer of dreams.
It took me two years with several breaks for Nabokov and one for Anna Karenina. The most rewarding period of my life.
I spent 20 years trying to read and interpret finnegans wake.(while nibbling on madeleines)…Every single page worthy of many other writers novels.
“It took me over eight years to write this…it should take you at least that long to read AND understand it” JJ
Hey Heikkinen Cousin! A long time ago they used to say that none of us scattered Soumalinen Heikkinens were related. But thanks to the technology of the new millennium I think it's probably true that most of us are cousins! Julie B Heikkinen Wolf
I'm 83 and reading Proust's "In Search of Lost Time" for the first time. I so wish that I had discovered him when I lived in Paris as a young man. However I am told that in order to appreciate this great work one needs to be at the right time in their life. In any case, this is the best literature I have ever read and it touches deep into my soul.
God bless you Sir for considering Literature at this juncture of your life 🙏
I'm 75 and although I have heard of Proust I have never read anything by him. I was thinking I might get 'round to giving it a try sometime.
Enjoy.
@@prarawat1821I was seventy-five when I undertook a degree course with the OU. I gained my BA and Masters in English Literature and Language. Never to old to learn, my life feels so enriched by by studying the great writers.
Proust enters my daily life in so many ways. The scent of ordinary everyday aromas, the sights and sounds of the past, come into my life frequently.
Enjoy literature!
Where do you live now?
Tried numerous time to complete Proust finally in my 70 th year completed it,so worth it, I am now 2/3rds through a second reading
This has inspired me to revisit Proust. I got stuck reading him when I was younger, and now want to try again.
MARCEL AND I. I've been reading Proust my whole life. I'm 75, and began reading his work at 15, have kept him on nightstands, in suitcases, briefcases, bookshelves all over the world to the great amusement of my progeny, who love to see what I've stacked on whatever piece of furniture has a light on it next to the bed I'm sleeping in when they manage to catch up with me for a visit. Ah...Proust Mom, right there with the National Enquirer, latest JAMA, Architectural Digest, a treatise on particle physics.and this thing in Arabic don 't explain...
Proust and the National Inquirer...somehow, that doesn't fit together.
WOW, encontrei neste mundo um ser semelhante a mim. Isto é maravilhoso. " Descobri" Proust aos 30, estou com 61 e na sexta releitura da Recherche, sempre descobrindo coisas e com mais prazer. Todo dia tomo um livro da estante um livro da série e leio 10 páginas aleatoriamente. Muito, mas muito prazer em saber que há neste mundo alguém como eu. Forte abraço, Patrícia.
wow. Just wow.
P
Why do the producers feel the need for music. If we want to hear music, we can hit our music app. Very distracting! Altho it is an excellent choice in music.
It is a shame that the narrator is not acknowledged, he is excellant
A pity that the volume of the musical background is so distracting
Reading Proust for the first time. It is a commitment of time but worth the effort. I have enjoyed it immensely.
Just found this video incredibly charming. The maker's adoration for Proust and Debussy strikes a strong chord with my personal preference. Thank you.
The entire 12 volumes are a challenge and, so far, I've managed to read three of them (in French). What this otherwise very accomplished documentary doesn’t highlight is Proust's style, which for me is uniquely captivating. The convoluted sentences, some of them spanning over a page, have a life of their own. Reading these words is akin to physical intoxication. If you lose the thread of the meaning, it somehow isn't important; the pleasure is in the language itself.
If you try to read Proust's magnum opus like you would plow through a regular novel, you're likely to get bogged down and quit after Swann's Way if not before. Best to take it slowly, spread it out over several months, and perhaps take a break between each of the 7 books that comprise it.
I love all of these biographies. You’re my new, favorite channel. Thank you!
My chance to read Proust (in English translation) came courtesy of a broken ankle while living in a third floor walkup. Warmed up with Ulysses and then dove into Proust.
Bliss.
♥️
BS. A broken ankle doesn't take that long to heal.
@@jillfryer6699 you're right, it was the sprain that lingered longest.
I read Proust when I was unemployed and it was a really great experience. I felt like a different person after reading the entire In Search of Lost Time.
Admirable video...excellent Narrator. I loved the Debussy selections and have performed them all. Very appropriate for this Bio.
I agree. Usually, music in the background is very annoying to me. This selection, however, was not. I rather enjoyed it, and that's saying something as I'm so persnickety about 🎶 🎵 music.
Tremendous! Enlightening, compassionate to make a reader who tried once, try again more fully equipped many years later to surrender to the world of Marcel Proust.
In Richard Ellmann's biography "James Joyce," Joyce met Proust one rainy day in Paris. The two giants happened to share a taxi. Proust asked Joyce to roll up the window, and Joyce said "No." End of story!
Amazing perspicacity and generosity of spirit - that's how I would characterize his greatest work!
Reynaldo Hahn, Proust's early lover, was Venezuelan, not Argentinian, born in Caracas. He moved to Paris with his family when he was five years old , never to return.
Thankyou for you’re excellent presentations of great men and women
Great presentation, thanks for the upload.
I've Just discovered your channel, and as well being an aspiring writer myself, I have taken a great fondness in watching as many documentaries as possible, with whatever time available, finding each one intensely inspiring and some (like the episode of Oscar Wilde's life) somewhat saddening, as the laws, social attitudes as well as acceptance towards others deemed "different" than what is allowed by those who adhere fervently and without exception to "mainstream social norms", and admonish as well as ostracize at times violently those who won't "adhere" to these so-called "social norms", a fiercely unneeded policing of other's basic human rights to engage in lifestyles that they see fit as well ways of living that doesn't harm society or those whom live within it.
Thanks for the interesting documentary. If I could only switch off the background music.
I agree.
Moi aussi.
If his mother was Jewish as stated. Marcel Proust would not be classified as "partially Jewish" but as a Jewish writer. This is because the Jewish identity is only passed down by matrilineal descent.
Classified by jews as such. Nowhere else.
I'm not actually an actress but I'm so used to interacting with broad classes or circumstances of people in life and I can relate to so many back grounds!
very nice documentary. Thanks!
Interesting documentary - pity about the distracting background music, much as I love Debussy.
I think the music (Debussy et al) is a perfect background to the documentary narrative. The flavour of the age is all the more enhanced by it.
Indeed. Like most films and documentaries these days, the human voice is suffocated by the lack of volume control orchestrated by sound engineers. Pun intended.
I'm so happy that Proust kept being invited. Soo important.
Please consider that music is as diminished by loud narratives as narratives are by loud music.
Would anyone consider writing on top of a master painting?
If it were NOT for the profoundly intrusive background music, I would probably be one of your biggest fans.
Proust is magic!!!
Great narration. The music is too loud though, pretty distracting
Sounds very relaxing and established social dynamics....leserly structured ....I had some tip of this in my summer holidays at my different relations small estates ....meeting professors, writer's... engineers....as my Great Aunt hostess with mostess...and I had much breathing space and good food
I apologize for bursting in like this.. BUT that music in the background aggravates ..
Makes the presentation come alive.
It the music of the time- Debussy Ravel Satie - Debussy’s string quartet and the Arabesque work so well together- the music contributes to the art of the period
Read him in French, read all the 12 volumes translated by CK Scott Moncrieff (except for the final volume; perhaps his task was too great ) And read the newer translation by Terence Kilmartin to which I was introduced by a friend,, a young radical insufficiently known poet called Niall Quinn whom I suggest you search out and read, if you have the courage....
Proust est un géant dans la littérature française 💐
He is so very special 💚
so so. the map of house and garden in Illiers is something I wish I'd seen sooner. Right now I am picking my way through the 2 volume bio by George Painter. Coal mining feels like a fair analogy. I know as much about coal mining as high society but coal mining is what comes to mind. Proust's life was not as isolated as this would make you think; his close, long relationships with his driver, his typists and the varied domestic staff who catered to his needs were crucial and valued, but there's a limit to what you can fit into a 30min doco.
brilliant documentary though the beautiful music is a bit loud.
This is an extremely interesting documentary… However the background music is much too loud and often drowns out the narrators voice
Elizabeth: Music is problem in so many presentations. I do not understand why the producers feel it is necessary at all in any narrative. It adds absolutely nothing and is a great distraction.
Imagine a great symphony drowned out by a loud booming voice?
What a lovely video 😊
Love this channel. I love reading. Proust was a poet I never read tho. I felt with all the new inventions and changes happening during his time, add the fact he never had to hussle up a meal, I felt anyone cld just look out their window and write the wonders they saw
But I give him a chance 50 yrs later 😊
Thanks, Paul. 😊
Of course!
Narrated by? Very interesting documentary. Thank you.
Very puzzling how early this starts getting things wrong: thus at 2m27s in, the screen shows the words 'La recherché du temps perdu' then 'Remembrance of things past' - as if either or both of these were the title of P's novel...(neither is.)
In Search of Lost Time... is how MOST of us know the title.
Please try to add subtitles too. Thank you!
He "found entrance wherever he wanted" belonged to another era.
Although I found this very interesting, I agree that the music was a huge distraction.
Intent on the narration, I don't notice any background sound.
Excellent video and narrator, but why does it have to have a piano playing all through, it is distracting, adds nothing and is
quite unnecessary. Shame.
Intelligent people can do what they want, genius people do the only thing they can.
Pourquoi cette musique dramatique et incessante?
Ex 10:52 la musique si farouche pour un simple image écolier?
Interesting documentary, though it ignores Proust's sexuality, and even gives the impression that he was heterosexual. Very remiss
.
James Joyce. Nuff said. 🎩
What's the name of the music played at the beginning?
Debussy - Arabesque Nr. 1
Wish that music didn’t play throughout.
it takes twenty minutes before they finally admit that Proust was homosexual.
I was thinking the same. His homosexuality is deliberately white-washed in this travesty of a documentary. You can not separate his homosexuality from his writing and life. They were inextricably intertwined.
what is the music at the beginnning?
Debussy's Arabesque, I believe.
17:30 a picture of "Proust with his friend..." while the other friend, Lucien Daudet, had been edited out.
Could Someone tel me the name of the piano piece.
Only France could produce such a writer.
The piano makes it unlistenable
Why on earth have this hideous background music? A real shame as it distracts from what could have been interesting!
Bang on !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Got through Swann's Way but no more. Can't think of anything significant I missed.
Quite right. The Swann’s Way is the best.
Excellent
The modern footage was a mistake. At least find some archive footage that keeps us roughly in the same era please.
After a good start, spoiled by referring to the Duchesse de Jermantes. The u after the g makes the g hard - thus pronounced Gurmantes, spelt Guermantes, though you later do pronounce it correctly. The composer in the novel is Vinteuil, not Vanteuil. I suspect a large proportion of viewers of this video will be Proust fans who know the books well, and are going to pick up these unnecessary errors. Gide was not the owner of the NRF, but one of the directors. It's "L' ombre de..." not "L' ambre de..."
Excellent.
VERY USEFUL
I’ve never read Proust but what an excellent BIO
I have studied Proust for over 50 years, and this bio has left out significant chunks of key elements of his work and inspiration, and misrepresented a few things, too. But I think it may well pique enough interest to get more people reading the novel.
It's very difficult to relate this to others....and the natural alien divides....often I can relate to various friends but sometimes when they all meet up with me there is always some fake betrayal they go away with....so I wide up with none of them...lol
Is that a quote? This is exactly the kind of universal (near universal?) experience Proust writes of.
Good choice!
Thanks!
明天，11月18日，是Marcel Proust馬賽爾普魯斯逝世100週末⋯⋯是為念❤️
I believe that Reynaldo Hahn was from Venezuela.
Having English friends over the years, I'd much prefer hearing these narrations by people with their accent, one that is fun and easy to understand to Americans, without the 'ohhh tooo tooo' pronunciations of every video on youtube Ive heard. The friends all are Londoners.
Coyly inaccurate on some things (Proust' homosexuality and its role in shaping the character of Albertine) but outright wrong on others: Reynaldo Hahn was Venezuelan (born in Caracas in 1874), not Argentinian, as the narrator blithely informs us.
Alfred Agostinelli, what about Proust's hot and sexy chauffeur?
Music is so annoying. Gonna have a o check out
Annoying background music.
Not a word on the madeleine cake and the mémoire involontaire?
Also, what about the petition of the intellectuals....and ' J' accuse ' by Zola ? The Dreyfuss affair was attacked from MANY quarters.
Sexist dominating Jewish Moma comment...not acceptable. This narrator is nauseatingly smug . And it is shocking not to mention the very loyal Celeste without whom Proust's work would not survive. Further....we now know the 'girls' Proust was ogling in Normandy were in fact boys...and the main one...Albertine was in fact a lad...whom Proust loved in a prolonged neurotic kind of way...until ' Albertine's' death. I have walked the Guemantes and Swann's Way twice on different occasions. Visited Aunt Leonie's house...and the village church..
You are right on.
@@Mrrossj01 Before having such a definite opinion it is better to keep to the facts. Celeste
took some of Proust's last dictation due to his being near to dying and Celste being almost the only person Proust then still trusted. The dictation she took down included some final excerpts of the book (some not even included in editions of the novel). Most of the novel was published during Proust's lifetime and Celeste was not the amanuensis for these.
Sexist? How?
My life is filled with social extrema and middle ground....it's strange like I was in children's shelters as well and it's such a contrast....but funny actually...
Vinteuil, not Vanteuil.
Sur la musique de la sonate n 1 de debussy un délice
Respect!
Dave has told women to get a job, even 2 jobs. This one was at home with the babies. I was surprised he didn't tell her the blog, was a hobby. Then go back to the $35 hr job for 10 hrs a week.
I read Proust's works immediately after reading his detailed biography. His production is reminiscent of the tea-coffee relationship from Little Women. Everyone dreams of her own and of a happy marriage. The book is interesting only because the author openly hints to us that he is gay. Perhaps that is why his books were not published in our country. Just like Herve Guibert. What can I say. The whole work is boring and the dialogues in it are far-fetched.
Il est mon alterego...
Proust never lived at 9 bd Malherbes but at 102 bd Haussman.
The name is familiar 😇
Who is greater , Marcel Proust or James Joyce ?
Both are very exquisite in their own rights.
And unless you understand Edward DeVere you won't get Shakespeare
How modern!
The music is too loud and, more importantly, Proust was gay. He didn't fall in love with those women - he admired them. I won't be subscribing to this channel.
Please, just be aware, the use of "jewess" by most Jews, is considered derogatory, rude or even anti-Semitic.
At 20:11, he's already lost quite a bit of hair!
Thank you. Or: Merci.
Bien sûr
Bloodless to a fault.
SORRY, BUT YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT REYNALDO HAHN WAS FROM CARACAS (VENEZUELA), NOT FROM ARGENTINA😮
Attention a votre recherche cher Monsieur de l Angleterre😊
I spent an entire Summer once eating spouts. My exclamations astonished all thowe present.
The rich and famous of that period sound boorish and snobby the real dregs of life!!!
I think I know what you mean. I find the European bourgeoisie of this period the hardest class to relate to from any in history.