a long time ago, by now

[SuprunP]

I received a letter from him about it a long time ago, by now, a letter with which I hastened not to comply and which leaves no doubt about his feelings, at least his feelings of love, for his wife.
(The Way by Swann's; M. Proust)

Would you be so kind as to tell me what additional meaning 'by now' conveys here?

Thanks.

 

[Glasguensis]

None.

 

[se16teddy]

It looks to me like a non-standard alternative to the idiomatic "it's a long time ago now", in which "now" has various possible vague senses around the length of the intervening period, the long time since I last considered the issue, ...

 

[VicNicSor]

At the link you provided there's no comma before "by now", so it has the same meaning as here:

NOW
3. up to the present
used for saying how long it is since something happened or started
It’s three years now since I moved south from Scotland.
The farm workers have been there for about two weeks now.

cross-posted with Teddy

 

[Fungk]

It gives an additional information.

 

[The Newt]

I think the idea is "at a time that, now as I write, is a long time ago." It probably sounded better in French.

 

[Edinburgher]

It seems to clarify the perspective for "a long time ago". What it suggests to me is that the letter was received a long time ago by the time Proust wrote this, but not all that long ago relative to whatever else he is writing about.

 

[pob14]

Sometimes it helps to compare translations of something that was not originally written in English. The 1922 Moncrieff translation puts it this way:

“He wrote me a letter about it, ages ago, to which I took care to pay no attention, but it left no doubt as to his feelings, let alone his love for his wife."

I wonder whether there was an effort in one version or the other to keep closer to a literal translation of the French.

 

[SuprunP]

Thank you everyone!