The narrator eats his madeleine dipped in tea. This is an epic length classic, told in such sustained detail and fervor. “Swann’s Way” starts with the narrator still in childhood. His recollections are priceless and his reflections insightful. It depicts a young boy growing up in Paris and the surrounding countryside in such intensely described vignettes that fascinate the mind. You see a changing aristocracy, an eccentric extended family, a loving mother, a detached father, and old servants still stuck in a disappearing formality. Proust’s words flow with such vigor and zest it is hard to tell where his own memory ends and where his imagination begins. No detail is missed. No thought left unexplained. Suddenly, we are swept away, back in time, into the world of Monsieur Swann, the narrator’s countryside neighbor. In this section of the novel the narrator remains in the background, as Swann’s tale begins years before his birth. Swann moves in the most notable and eligible of circles while in Paris, dining frequently with the Prince of Wales. However, it is intimated that he also has a disreputable side. Soon we hear of Swann’s passionate dalliance with Odette, a lady rumored to be of ill repute. What starts as a hot and heavy affair turns into a fractious relationship with Swann eventually maneuvered into the role of the spurned lover. Yet his attraction will not yield. The more he is tossed aside, the more his infatuation grows. He is consumed by his passion for Odette, even as he learns more and more of her notorious past. Proust relishes in giving every detail and intriguing morsel. Finally, the spell is broken and Swann’s consuming vigor passes. The love has finally faded. Or so we think, until the narrator starts up again, retelling the days of his own youth, and his own unrequited love affair with Swann’s daughter.
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