Seeker of lost time as it is called. Marcel Proust. Toward Svan

This work, consisting of 15 books and 7 parts, was created by a seriously ill person, locked in a dark, cork-covered room due to acute asthma attacks. Protected from the noises and smells of the outside world, Proust recreated the Universe, contact with which became impossible for him due to illness.

All 7 parts of the novel were created during the last sixteen years of the writer's life. The first volume, Toward Svan, was published in 1913, and the second, Under the Shadow of Girls in Bloom, in 1918. In 1919, Proust was awarded the Prix Goncourt for the first two volumes. In 1921, the third volume "Toward the Guermantes" appeared, and a year later the fourth book, "Sodom and Gomorrah", was published. The last parts of the epic - "The Captive" (1924), "The Fugitive" (1925), "Time Regained" (1927) - were published after the death of the writer.

The novel "In Search of Lost Time" is perceived as a form of revival of the past. The elusive impressions of the soul become a criterion of truth for the writer: “... those truths that our mind draws ... in the world of evidence and, lacking depth, they are less significant for us than those that we, against our will, receive from life in one the only impression, material, because it is perceived by the senses ... ". Proust persistently emphasizes the variability of reality, which he calls "the loss of time." Cognition for him is possible only through the medium of feelings and sensations.

The writer embodies his idea in an organic form of narration in the first person. In the Proustian cycle, the lyrical "I" of the narrator dominates, completely merging with its creator. The narrator suffers from asthma, adores his mother, and is published in Le Figaro. Comparison of Proust's life with the fates of the heroes of his novel makes it possible to assert that the writer generously endows them with facts from his biography. The author's "I" is dissolved in almost all of his characters.

Out of Proust's mind grew a vast world, spread over more than three thousand pages of the novel: this is his own life, and the life of France at the turn of the century, and the First World War, and the Dreyfus affair, and even the revolution in Russia. In creating the epic layer of the narrative, the writer relied on the tradition of Balzac, rethought by him in accordance with his own aesthetics. Balzac believed that "feeling is the rival of understanding, just as action is the antagonist of thinking." Proust, on the contrary, focuses on a detailed analysis of feelings and sensations, and turns reflection into the main action of his work. Proust's cycle is a kind of synthesis of epic form and lyrical element. The abundance of characters, observations and facts coexist on an equal footing with impressionistic sketches of landscapes, elusive impressions of the soul. The world of the Proustian cycle is subject to the consciousness that perceives it. This dependence is emphasized by the eternal variability, the fluidity of the world of "evidence".

Numerous characters in the novel - from the maid Francoise to the aristocratic and bourgeois elite of Guermantes, Verdurins, Norpois, Swann - are the prototypes of the writer's relatives and acquaintances. But unlike Balzac, Proust avoids categorical characterizations. His "portraits" are distinguished by vagueness, indeterminacy of features that change depending on the overflow of feelings of the consciousness that perceives them. "... A public personality is the creation of other people's thoughts ... A person is a creature that cannot renounce itself, which knows others only refracted through it."

The same person is perceived differently in the novel, depending on the perception of other people or the narrator. The narrator's attitude to the big name of the Guermantes, to Swann, to the maid Francoise and even to his own father changes: “... our view of people, our opinion of them, is constantly changing. The world is imperceptibly, but eternally moving.

The inability to comprehend the elusive essence of the “other” causes the transformation of love in the Proustian cycle into an internal state. Swann, waking up early in the morning, realized that he loved not Odette, but his own idea of her. The narrator had the same feelings for Gilberte, “for the one that I carried in me. I must say that the other one, the real one, was, perhaps, completely different from this one.

In Proust's feeling of love, there is no object of love, but only the lover, his feeling. The writer is characterized by a passion for explaining all the subtlest overflows of feelings: "Swan analyzed his jealousy with such insight, as if he had specially instilled a jealousy virus in order to study it." This careful reproduction of interruptions of feelings reveals a tendency to generalize the sensations of the inner world, to create a universal model of a person outside of time and space. "... Collecting together the observations of dinner, from the sketches I got a drawing that is a kind of set of psychological laws."

In Proust's Diaries there is this remarkable entry: "To convey our vision before it has been deformed by our mind." By vision is meant the appearance of the past, brought to life by "instinctive" memory. "Instinctive" memory, from the point of view of the writer, is based on the impulsiveness of sensations that are not controlled by the mind. “Trying to remember, we only rummage in vain in memory, all the efforts of the mind are in vain here. It (the past) is inaccessible to consciousness and lurks outside it - in some tangible object (in the sensation that this object gives us). This is how the famous tea drinking episode arose, when the taste of the madeleine cake, familiar from childhood, evokes a stream of the revived past: “... the whole of Combray with its surroundings ... form and density, all this, the city and the gardens, emerged from my cup of tea ".

In the mind of the narrator, the past doubles, as it were: he recalls not only the primary sensation - the taste of madeleine, but also that long-standing moment when this taste awakened happy associations. Concrete unique impressions, fixed by “instinctive” memory, turn into a universal law of being in the Proustian cycle: “But as soon as we again hear the familiar smell that belongs to both the past and the present ... the enduring and usually hidden essence of things is released, and our true “ I... awakens. The very moment, freed from the connection of times ... revives in us a person free from this connection.

"Instinctive" memory, stopping a moment for a short moment, destroys the length of Time, "on which life seems to be built." Anxiety and disappointment, fear of death and illness recede, and a “particle of time in its purest form”, or “time found”, appears. And the taste of cake, and the smell of roadside herbs and the Martinville bell towers in Combray - everything that lives in the unfading "instinctive" memory - fills the narrator with a joyful liberation from the power of Time. "And I felt that only the pleasure experienced in these moments of ecstasy was true and fruitful."

This moment of sensual pleasure arises in the Proustian cycle not only from the sensations bestowed by life, but also from the images evoked by works of art: on the Martinville bell towers, on the trees, or, to take a simpler example, at tea drinking. The Proustian cycle presents a complex range of overflowing feelings - from the simplest life sensations to the refined impressions bestowed by art.

Elevating art into a cult, Proust considers it the only way to keep, to perpetuate "time gained". He stops the moment, giving the original extent to the lost time. Proust's novel made it possible to realize "timeless realities" by maintaining them in a familiar temporary environment, where "everything wears out, everything collapses, everything perishes." Recreating the past, the writer gave it “shape and density” in the embodied creation: “The greatness of true art ... lies in finding, capturing and showing ... the reality that we may never have to know, while we are alive, although this is our life, real, finally revealed and clarified, the only life we really lived, the life that in a sense is constantly inherent in everyone and everyone.

Proust's style consists of endless, nested refinements, constantly interrupting the development of the main theme with other themes. The novel is a gigantic internal monologue, a stream of memories of the author-narrator, where the boundaries of the past and the present are erased. But for all the external randomness of the composition, the Proustian cycle is impeccably built and forms a single whole with the idea. No wonder the writer compared his work with the "cathedral". “But I have built my work so carefully that this episode from the first volume explains the jealousy of my hero in the fourth and fifth volumes, and, having demolished a column with an obscene capital, I would have brought down the vault itself in the future.”

Proust, in his cycle of novels In Search of Lost Time, created a great work, discovering a new artistic law for the literature of the 20th century - the law of global generalizations of overflows and interruptions of feelings. To opponents who accused him of being addicted to trifles and lacking a plot, the writer replied: “I discovered great laws ... The work itself is just an optical device offered to the reader to help distinguish what, without this book, he might never have did not see in myself. The recognition by the reader in himself of what is said in the book is the proof of its truth.

On the verge of death, almost blind, cut off by illness from the world, Proust created his universe, more authentic, from his point of view, than the real one. A few weeks before his death, he wrote to his publisher Gaston Gallimard: “Others can enjoy the whole world - and I am happy for them. But I myself am deprived of movement, words, thoughts, simple relief from the pain that has finally subsided. Exiled from myself, I take refuge in the volumes of [Lost Time]... devoid of everything, I am consumed by the fact that in the spiritual world I endow books with a life that is already beyond my reach.”

The French writer, journalist and critic Frederic Begbeder (b. 1965), well known to Russian readers for his ironic provocative novels, comments on fifty works named by the French as the best books of the 20th century.

No. 2 Marcel Proust "In Search of Lost Time" (1913-1927)

As you can see, the great Marcel Proust is only in second place in the list of books of the century, but do you know why? Because he is the first among all the writers of our millennium and, therefore, within the tiny twentieth century, he is, as it were, out of competition.

Everything about his masterpiece has already been said and written and chewed many times, sometimes even more than necessary, and you want me to outline the content of this three thousand page monster in a few lines!? Yes, today is not Proust - today I toil in search of lost time! However, the very title of the novel speaks volumes: “Search for Lost Time”, almost came out under the heading “Interruptions of feelings”, “Killed doves” and “Stalakites of the past”, but the title chosen in the end expresses the essence of our century in the best possible way. . If you think about it, it was the twentieth century that accelerated the passage of time, made everything instantly transient, and Proust unconsciously, but unmistakably, as befits a real genius, guessed this property. Today it is the duty of every writer to help us find the time that our age has destroyed, for
"the true paradises are those which we have lost." Proust built his seven-volume house of cards with the intention of telling us one simple truth: literature is about making time... for reading!
And of course, I could briefly retell you his novel, both impressionistic and cubist, autobiographical and fictional, selecting a few main storylines: yes, this is a novel about love driven to madness by jealousy - the love of Swann for Odette, the Narrator to Albertina; of course, this is the story of Marcel, a secular upstart who is eager to receive an invitation to the Princess de Guermantes, but, since he does not succeed, has become a misanthropic writer; undoubtedly, this is the coming-out (here: revelations - English) of a bashful homosexual who describes the decadents of his time, Baron de Charlus and his friend Jupien, in order to whitewash himself at their expense; OK, this is an encyclopedia of the decadent morals of the aristocratic society before and during the First World War 1914-1918; undoubtedly, it also tells about the life of a young man who tells how he became a writer, because he stumbled over the cobblestones of the pavement instead of throwing them, as is customary today, at the commandos.
But talking about all this means keeping silent about the real heroes of the book, namely, about the newfound time. In it - in the newfound time - a great many different things can lurk: longing for childhood, which rolled in at the moment when you gnaw on an almond cake; death, when you again meet decrepit snobs; erosion of love passion or how to turn suffering into boredom; masterful memory is a real machine for wandering in time, which can be overcome only when you write, listen to the sonata of Vinteuil or the Martinville bell. “Remembrance of a certain image is only regret for a certain moment; and houses, and roads, and streets, alas, are as ephemeral as years.
I'm not afraid to say: Proust often writes too long sentences, and many people find it difficult to delve into his text. But do not blame yourself, you just need to get used to the rhythm of his prose. Personally, I overcame this difficulty by telling myself this: these endlessly improved phrases are adequate to the work of the human brain. Is it worth it to blame Proust for his phrases being too long, if you have endless periods in your head (and certainly less interesting ones, excuse me for being direct)?!
Proust did not want to die, and therefore, having become a recluse, he lived at night and slept during the day, eating, like a vampire, the blood of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, frantically working on his novel from 1906 to 1922; he died in the same year - and won by immortalizing himself, for "real life, life finally comprehended and unraveled, and, therefore, the only one really lived, is literature." The novel Toward Swann, rejected by André Gide in Gallimard, was published in 1913 by the Grasse publishing house at the expense of the author; the next volume - "Under the shade of the girls in bloom", already published by "Gallimard", brought the author the Goncourt Prize in 1919. Proust would still see the release of the volumes "At the Germans" (1921) and "Sodom and Gomorrah" (1922), but the last three books - "The Captive", "The Fugitive" and "Time Regained" - came out after the death of the writer, in 1923, 1925 and 1927, in a very clumsy treatment by his brother Robber.
And in 1927, the end of the century came. Five years later, Celine and 48 other books appear on our chart, not counting all the others that did not make it, but by and large the game is already over. No one will NEVER be able to write the way they used to. No one will ever be able to LIVE like before. From now on, whenever an image, sensation, sound or smell reminds you of something else - well, I don't know what exactly. Maybe at this particular moment, while reading me, you will remember some long-standing event, experience, a school teacher who “shaken” you with this very Proust in high school - and so. Whenever such a flash of memory strikes you, know that this is Time Recovered. What is this Proust. And that it is a thousand times more beautiful than all the DVDs in the world and more interesting than the PlayStation. Tell you why? Because Proust teaches us that time does not exist. That all the ages of our life, up to the hour of death, remain with us. And that only we ourselves are free to choose for ourselves that moment that is dearest to us.

Source - Aldebaran Library

Time slips away into the brief moment between sleep and awakening. For a few seconds, the narrator Marcel seems to have turned into what he read about the day before. The mind struggles to locate the bedroom. Could it be that this is grandfather's house in Combray, and Marcel fell asleep without waiting for his mother to come to say goodbye to him? Or is it Madame de Saint-Au's estate in Tansonville? So Marcel slept too long after a day's walk: the eleventh hour - everyone had supper! Then habit comes into its own and with skillful slowness begins to fill the habitable space. But the memory has already awakened: this night Marcel will not fall asleep - he will remember Combray, Balbec, Paris, Donciere and Venice.

In Combray, little Marseille was sent to bed right after supper, And mother came in for a minute to kiss him goodnight. But when the guests came, my mother did not go up to the bedroom. Usually Charles Swann, the son of a grandfather's friend, came to see them. Marcel's relatives had no idea that the "young" Swann was leading a brilliant social life, because his father was just a stockbroker. The inhabitants of that time did not differ too much from the Hindus in their views: everyone had to rotate in their own circle, and the transition to a higher caste was even considered indecent. It was only by chance that Marseille's grandmother learned about Swann's aristocratic acquaintances from a boarding house friend, the Marquise de Villeparisi, with whom she did not want to maintain friendly relations because of her firm belief in the good inviolability of castes.

After an unsuccessful marriage to a woman from bad society, Swann visited Combray less and less, but each of his visits was torment for the boy, because his mother's farewell kiss had to be taken with him from the dining room to the bedroom. The greatest event in Marcel's life came when he was sent to bed even earlier than usual. He did not have time to say goodbye to his mother and tried to call her with a note sent through the cook Francoise, but this maneuver failed. Deciding to achieve a kiss at all costs, Marcel waited for Swann to leave and went out in his nightgown to the stairs. This was an unheard of violation of the established order, but the father, who was irritated by "sentiment", suddenly understood the state of his son. Mom spent the whole night in the sobbing Marcel's room. When the boy calmed down a little, she began to read to him a novel by George Sand, lovingly chosen for his grandson by his grandmother. This victory turned out to be bitter: mother seemed to have renounced her beneficial firmness.

For a long time, Marcel, waking up at night, recalled the past fragmentarily: he saw only the scenery of his going to bed - the stairs, which were so hard to climb, and the bedroom with a glass door into the corridor, from where his mother appeared. In fact, the rest of Combray died for him, because no matter how the desire to resurrect the past increases, it always escapes. But when Marcel tasted the biscuit soaked in linden tea, the flowers in the garden suddenly floated out of the cup, the hawthorn in the park of Swann, the water lilies of Vivona, the good inhabitants of Combray and the bell tower of the church of St. Hilary.

Marcel was treated to this biscuit by Aunt Léonie when the family spent their Easter and summer holidays in Combray. Auntie told herself that she was terminally ill: after the death of her husband, she did not get up from the bed that stood by the window. Her favorite pastime was to follow passers-by and discuss the events of local life with the cook Françoise, a woman of the kindest soul, who at the same time knew how to calmly turn a chicken's neck and survive an objectionable dishwasher out of the house.

Marseille loved summer walks around Combray. The family had two favorite routes: one was called "the direction to Mezeglise" (or "to Swann", since the road passed by his estate), and the second - "the direction of the Guermantes", descendants of the famous Genevieve of Brabant. Childhood impressions remained in the soul forever: many times Marcel was convinced that only those people and those objects that he encountered in Combray truly pleased him. The direction to Mezeglise with its lilacs, hawthorn and cornflowers, the direction to Guermantes with the river, water lilies and buttercups created an eternal image of the country of fabulous bliss. Undoubtedly, this was the cause of many mistakes and disappointments: sometimes Marcel dreamed of meeting someone just because this person reminded him of a flowering hawthorn bush in the park of Svan.

Marcel's whole later life was connected with what he learned or saw in Combray. Communication with the engineer Legrandin gave the boy the first concept of snobbery: this pleasant, amiable man did not want to greet Marseille's relatives in public, since he became related to aristocrats. The music teacher Vinteuil stopped visiting the house so as not to meet Swann, whom he despised for marrying a cocotte. Vinteuil doted on his only daughter. When a friend came to this somewhat masculine-looking girl, Combray was openly talked about their strange relationship. Vinteuil suffered unspeakably - perhaps the bad reputation of his daughter brought him to the grave ahead of time. In the autumn of that year, when Aunt Leonie finally died, Marcel witnessed a disgusting scene in Montjuvin: Mademoiselle Vengeil's friend spat on a photograph of the deceased musician. The year was marked by another important event:

Françoise, at first angry with the "heartlessness" of Marseille's relatives, agreed to go to their service.

Of all the schoolmates, Marcel preferred Blok, who was welcomed cordially in the house, despite the obvious pretentiousness of manners. True, grandfather chuckled at his grandson's sympathy for the Jews. Blok recommended Marcel to read Bergott, and this writer made such an impression on the boy that his cherished dream was to get to know him. When Swann said that Bergott was friendly with his daughter, Marcel's heart sank - only an extraordinary girl could deserve such happiness. At the first meeting in the Tansonville park, Gilberte looked at Marcel with an unseeing look - obviously, this was a completely inaccessible creature. The boy's relatives paid attention only to the fact that Madame Swann, in the absence of her husband, shamelessly receives the Baron de Charlus.

But Marseille experienced the greatest shock in the church of Combray on the day when the Duchess de Guermantes deigned to attend the service. Outwardly, this lady with a big nose and blue eyes almost did not differ from other women, but she was surrounded by a mythical halo - one of the legendary Guermantes appeared before Marseille. Passionately in love with the duchess, the boy pondered how to win her favor. It was then that dreams of a literary career were born.

Only many years after his separation from Combray, Marcel found out about Swann's love. Odette de Crecy was the only woman in the Verdurin salon, where only the "faithful" were accepted - those who considered Dr. Cotard the beacon of wisdom and admired the pianist's playing, who was currently patronized by Madame Verdurin. The artist, nicknamed "Maestro Bish", was supposed to be pitied for his rough and vulgar style of writing. Swann was considered an inveterate heartthrob, but Odette was not at all to his taste. However, he was pleased to think that she was in love with him. Odette introduced him to the "clan" of the Verdurins, and gradually he got used to seeing her every day. Once he thought it looked like a painting by Botticelli, and with the sounds of Vinteuil's sonata, real passion flared up. Having abandoned his previous studies (in particular, an essay on Vermeer), Swann ceased to be in the world - now Odette absorbed all his thoughts. The first intimacy came after he straightened the orchid on her corsage - from that moment they had the expression "orchid". The tuning fork of their love was the marvelous musical phrase of Vinteuil, which, according to Swann, could not have belonged to the “old fool” from Combray. Swann soon became madly jealous of Odette. The Comte de Forcheville, who was in love with her, mentioned Swann's aristocratic acquaintances, and this overwhelmed the patience of Madame Verdurin, who always suspected that Swann was ready to "pull" out of her salon. After his "disgrace" Swann lost the opportunity to see Odette at the Verdurins. He was jealous of all men and calmed down only when she was in the company of the Baron de Charlus. Hearing Vinteuil's sonata again, Swann could hardly hold back a cry of pain: he could not return to that wonderful time when Odette loved him madly. The obsession passed gradually. The beautiful face of the Marquise de Govozho, nee Legrandin, reminded Swann of the saving Combray, and he suddenly saw Odette as she is - not like a painting by Botticelli. How could it happen that he wasted several years of his life on a woman who, in fact, he did not even like?

Marseille would never have gone to Balbec if Swann had not praised the "Persian" style church there. And in Paris, Swann became the "father of Gilberte" for the boy. Françoise took her pet for a walk to the Champs Elysees, where a girl's "flock" played, led by Gilberte. Marcel was accepted into the company, and he fell in love with Gilberte even more. He was fascinated by the beauty of Mrs. Swann, and the rumors about her aroused curiosity. Once this woman was called Odette de Crecy.

Valentin Louis Georges Eugene Marcel Proust

Marcel Proust was born in the Auteuil district (Fr. Auteuil, a suburb of Paris; now its 16th arrondissement) on July 10, 1871, in the house of his great-uncle Louis Weil, two months after the end of the Franco-Prussian war. His father, Adrian Proust, an eminent epidemiologist and pathologist, professor at the Faculty of Medicine, was looking for ways to prevent the spread of cholera in Europe and Asia; was an adviser to the French government in the fight against the epidemic; author of numerous articles and books on medicine and hygiene. Mother, Jeanne Weil - daughter of a Jewish stockbroker.

In the spring of 1880, at the age of 9, Proust experienced his first asthma attack, which he struggled with throughout his life.

In 1882, Proust entered the Lycée Condorcet. Often absent. He passed his final exams for the title of bachelor in July 1889, and was especially noted for writing in French. At the Lyceum, Proust met Jacques Bizet.

In September 1903, his father died, and in September 1905, his mother, who loved him dearly. Proust receives a rich inheritance, but a severe form of asthma forces him to lead a reclusive life since 1906. During the First World War, he subsidized the maintenance of a brothel for homosexuals. Around 1907, he began work on his main work, In Search of Lost Time. In November 1913, the first novel of the Proustian epic "Towards Swann" was published, which was met with a cool reception by readers and critics, but the writer's second novel "Under the Shade of Girls in Bloom" brought him fame and was awarded the Goncourt Prize for 1919.

And it is interesting to know the facts from the life of Proust

The Captive is the fifth novel in the In Search of Lost Time epic, published after the death of Marcel Proust.

French writer, short story writer and critic, representative of [modernism] in literature. He gained worldwide fame as the author of the seven-volume epic In Search of Lost Time, one of the most significant works of world literature of the 20th century.

Proust comes from a wealthy family, homosexual and a terrible hypochondriac (staying in a delusional state), in order to stay awake at night he drank large amounts of coffee, slept during the daytime, having previously taken veronal (barbital - sleeping pills). In the end, the result was this - of his last fifteen years of his life, he spent the vast majority of the day on the couch, in a soundproof room. And what's interesting. Marcel's father was a doctor by profession, but he was never able to help his son, probably understood the hopelessness of the situation (we are talking about hereditary diseases), because Marcel Proust's own aunt (Aunt Eliza, also a hypochondriac) refused to get out of bed for twenty years.

In Venice there was a cafe "Florian", Proust was often shown here.

And Marcel Proust, Jean Cocteau, Sacha Guitry have been to the Maxim's restaurant.

In 1999, the two largest chains of bookstores in France conducted a survey among their customers in order to identify a list of the 50 best works of the 20th century, at number 2 in this list was the novel "In Search of Lost Time", in the first place was the novel " Outsider" by Albert Camus.

Marcel Proust was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery.

Marcel Proust lived in house number 102 on Boulevard Haussmann (Paris) from 1907 to 1919 in a six-room apartment. The novel In Search of Lost Time was written within these walls. Now this apartment has become a museum.

It is generally accepted that Marcel Proust was the initiator of a new direction in literature. He considers his works as a tool for studying the construction of reality by human consciousness in time, but not linearly, but according to emotional outbursts of memory. Proust's ideas largely coincide with the teachings of the intuitionist Henri Bergson, expressed in the book "Matter and Memory" (1896). Consciousness manifests itself in two forms. One is connected with the practical activity of a person, it is formed by the social influence on the individual. It is relative and will not allow one to penetrate into the true essence of reality, to which a person is led by intuition, manifested in the most insignificant perception from the point of view of practical consciousness.

Albert de Cuziat organized in Paris for homosexuals a men's brothel "Hotel Marigny". Proust not only supported his enterprise with money, but he himself became a regular in this house.

The galley proofs of the first edition of Towards Swann, with the author's revisions, sold at Christie's in July 2000 for £663,750 ($1,008,900), a record price for a French literature manuscript.

Marcel is one of the founders of literary modernism, combining in his work the present and past events into a single whole picture. The refined and bizarre world of Proustian prose recreates the amazing and unpredictable path of a person into the depths of his inner universe. The writer laid the foundation for a new type of novel - the "stream of consciousness" novel.

At the end of his life, on May 14, 1921, Marcel Proust met with another famous writer, his peer André Gide, who never hid his homosexuality, and spoke frankly with him. The next day, Gide described this meeting in his diary, which he published at the end of his life. Gide writes: “He said that he had never loved a woman in his life, except spiritually, and knew no other love than for a man. I had no idea that Proust was so exclusively homosexual.”

There is a so-called "Marcel Proust Questionnaire". In the second half of the 20th century, on television in many countries of the world, TV presenters who invited famous people to their programs asked them questions from this questionnaire at the end of the meetings. In Russia, Vladimir Pozner continues this tradition in the Pozner program.

On December 10, 1919, Proust was awarded the Prix Goncourt for his novel Under the Shade of Girls in Bloom.

Marcel Proust wrote lying down.

"In Search of Lost Time"

Summary of the novel

Magnum opus by the French modernist writer Marcel Proust, a semi-autobiographical cycle of seven novels. Published in France between 1913 and 1927.

Proust's In Search of Lost Time is narrated by a hero named Marcel. The work is an autobiographical story, but the author denies the relationship of the book to his personal history. The hero is in a state of memories and is preparing to leave for another world. He is very sick, but there are no people close to him nearby. The hero regrets the past and yearns for what he did not have time to accomplish in his life and for his untapped potential.

The piece can be viewed as an hourglass. I really want to turn back time, but, unfortunately, everything in the world is built differently. The novel has a psychological character and carries the last word of a dying person.

Marcel displays his lived life on the basis of trifles, drawing images of people he has known for a long time. The story is told in the first person.

Time slips away into the brief moment between sleep and waking. For a few seconds, the narrator Marcel feels as if he has become what he read about the day before. The mind struggles to locate the bedroom. Could it be that this is grandfather's house in Combray, and Marcel fell asleep without waiting for his mother to come to say goodbye to him? Or is it Madame de Saint-Au's estate in Tansonville? So Marseille slept too long after a day's walk: the eleventh hour - everyone had supper! Then habit comes into its own and with skillful slowness begins to fill the habitable space. But the memory has already awakened: this night Marcel will not fall asleep - he will remember Combray, Balbec, Paris, Donciere and Venice.

After an unsuccessful marriage to a woman from bad society, Swann visited Combray less and less, but each of his visits was torment for the boy, because his mother's farewell kiss had to be taken with him from the dining room to the bedroom. The greatest event in Marcel's life came when he was sent to bed even earlier than usual. He did not have time to say goodbye to his mother and tried to call her with a note sent through the cook Francoise, but this maneuver failed. Deciding to achieve a kiss at all costs, Marcel waited for Swann to leave and went out in his nightgown to the stairs. It was an unheard of violation of the established order, but the father, who was irritated by "sentiment", suddenly understood the state of his son. Mom spent the whole night in the sobbing Marcel's room. When the boy calmed down a little, she began to read to him a novel by George Sand, lovingly chosen for his grandson by his grandmother. This victory turned out to be bitter: mother seemed to have renounced her beneficial firmness.

For a long time, Marcel, waking up at night, recalled the past in fragments: he saw only the scenery of his going to bed - the stairs, which were so hard to climb, and the bedroom with a glass door into the corridor, from where his mother appeared. In fact, the rest of Combray died for him, because no matter how the desire to resurrect the past increases, it always escapes. But when Marcel tasted the biscuit soaked in linden tea, the flowers in the garden suddenly floated out of the cup, the hawthorn in the park of Swann, the water lilies of Vivona, the good inhabitants of Combray and the bell tower of the church of St. Hilary.

Marcel was treated to this biscuit by Aunt Léonie when the family spent their Easter and summer holidays in Combray. Auntie told herself that she was terminally ill: after the death of her husband, she did not get up from the bed that stood by the window. Her favorite pastime was to follow passers-by and discuss the events of local life with the cook Françoise, a woman of the kindest soul, who at the same time knew how to calmly turn a chicken’s neck and survive an objectionable dishwasher out of the house.

Marseille loved summer walks around Combray. The family had two favorite routes: one was called “the direction to Mezeglise” (or “to Swann”, since the road passed by his estate), and the second - “the direction of the Guermantes”, descendants of the famous Genevieve of Brabant. Childhood impressions remained in the soul forever: many times Marcel was convinced that only those people and those objects that he encountered in Combray truly pleased him. The direction to Mezeglise with its lilacs, hawthorn and cornflowers, the direction to Guermantes with the river, water lilies and buttercups created an eternal image of the country of fabulous bliss. Undoubtedly, this was the cause of many mistakes and disappointments: sometimes Marcel dreamed of meeting someone just because this person reminded him of a flowering hawthorn bush in the park of Svan.

Of all the schoolmates, Marcel gave preference to Blok, who was welcomed cordially in the house, despite the obvious pretentiousness of manners. True, grandfather chuckled at his grandson's sympathy for the Jews. Blok recommended Marcel to read Bergott, and this writer made such an impression on the boy that his cherished dream was to get to know him. When Swan said that Bergott was friendly with his daughter, Marcel's heart sank - only an extraordinary girl could deserve such happiness. At the first meeting in the Tansonville park, Gilberte looked at Marcel with an unseeing look - obviously, this was a completely inaccessible creature. The boy's relatives paid attention only to the fact that Madame Swann, in the absence of her husband, shamelessly receives the Baron de Charlus.

Only many years after his separation from Combray, Marcel found out about Swann's love. Odette de Crecy was the only woman in the Verdurin salon, where only the "faithful" were accepted - those who considered Dr. Cotard the beacon of wisdom and admired the playing of the pianist, who at the moment was patronized by Madame Verdurin. The artist, nicknamed “Maestro Bish,” was to be pitied for his rough and vulgar style of writing. Swann was considered an inveterate heartthrob, but Odette was not at all to his taste. However, he was pleased to think that she was in love with him. Odette introduced him to the "clan" of the Verdurins, and gradually he got used to seeing her every day. Once he thought it looked like a painting by Botticelli, and with the sounds of Vinteuil's sonata, real passion flared up. Having abandoned his previous studies (in particular, an essay on Vermeer), Swann ceased to be in the world - now Odette absorbed all his thoughts. The first intimacy came after he straightened the orchid on her corsage - from that moment they had the expression “orchid”. The tuning fork of their love was the marvelous musical phrase of Vinteuil, which, according to Swann, could not have belonged to the “old fool” from Combray. Swann soon became madly jealous of Odette. The Comte de Forcheville, who was in love with her, mentioned Swann's aristocratic acquaintances, and this overwhelmed Madame Verdurin's patience, who always suspected that Swann was ready to "pull" out of her salon. After his "disgrace" Swann lost the opportunity to see Odette at the Verdurins. He was jealous of all men and calmed down only when she was in the company of the Baron de Charlus. Hearing Vinteuil's sonata again, Swann could hardly hold back a cry of pain: he could not return to that wonderful time when Odette loved him madly. The obsession passed gradually. The beautiful face of the Marquise de Govozho, nee Legrandin, reminded Swann of the saving Combray, and he suddenly saw Odette as she is - not like a Botticelli painting. How could it happen that he wasted several years of his life on a woman who, in fact, he did not even like?

Marseille would never have gone to Balbec if Swann had not praised the "Persian" style church there. And in Paris, Swann became the “father of Gilberte” for the boy. Françoise took her pet for a walk on the Champs-Elysées, where a girl's "flock" played, led by Gilberte. Marcel was accepted into the company, and he fell in love with Gilberte even more. He was fascinated by the beauty of Mrs. Swann, and the rumors about her aroused curiosity. Once this woman was called Odette de Crecy.

And phorisms and quotations

The only true way to discover the world, the only fountain of Youth, is not to visit unknown lands, but to get other eyes, to look at the world through the eyes of another person, hundreds of other people, to see the hundreds of worlds that these people see, to see the worlds enclosed in these people.

Happiness is good for the body, but only sorrow develops the faculties of the spirit.

To know is not always to prevent.

The most tender communication in the world is between those who are not interested in communication.

Marcel Proust archives auctioned off in France for $1.24 million

For the writer, as for the artist, style is a matter of vision, not technique.

The intellectual level of the interior and its external brilliance are in relation to each other rather inverse than in direct proportion.

We're not particularly picky or fair about things we don't care about.

A deceived husband sees deceived husbands everywhere.

He's been thinking about it for so long that he's already started preaching it.

A strong thought transfers a particle of its strength to the enemy.

Each person is demanding and prudent only if he discusses what concerns him.

Wanting to forget a person, we are in a state where our memory does everything contrary to this desire.

To want not to think about her meant to still think about her.

As a person with a highly developed intellect, he could not speak briefly about something that did not require long speeches.

Only through art can we leave ourselves, know how the other sees the universe.

There are very few easy successes and final failures in life.

Marcel Proust - all the most interesting about the French writer, quotes, books, photographs and more - "In Search of Lost Time" summary updated: December 22, 2016 by: site

In search of lost time

I. Toward Swann (Du cote de chez Swann)

Time slips away into the brief moment between sleep and waking. For a few seconds, the narrator Marcel feels as if he has become what he read about the day before. The mind struggles to locate the bedroom. Could it be that this is grandfather's house in Combray, and Marcel fell asleep without waiting for his mother to come to say goodbye to him? Or is it Madame de Saint-Au's estate in Tansonville? So Marcel slept too long after a day's walk: the eleventh hour - everyone had supper! Then habit comes into its own and with skillful slowness begins to fill the habitable space. But the memory has already awakened: this night Marcel will not fall asleep - he will remember Combray, Balbec, Paris, Donciere and Venice.

After an unsuccessful marriage to a woman from bad society, Swann visited Combray less and less, but each of his visits was torment for the boy, because his mother's farewell kiss had to be taken with him from the dining room to the bedroom. The greatest event in Marcel's life came when he was sent to bed even earlier than usual. He did not have time to say goodbye to his mother and tried to call her with a note sent through the cook Francoise, but this maneuver failed. Deciding to achieve a kiss at all costs, Marcel waited for Swann to leave and went out in his nightgown to the stairs. This was an unheard-of violation of the established order, but the father, who was irritated by "sentiment", suddenly understood the state of his son. Mom spent the whole night in the sobbing Marcel's room. When the boy calmed down a little, she began to read to him a novel by George Sand, lovingly chosen for his grandson by his grandmother. This victory turned out to be bitter: mother seemed to have renounced her beneficial firmness.

see also

Only many years after his separation from Combray, Marcel found out about Swann's love. Odette de Crecy was the only woman in the Verdurin salon, where only the "faithful" were admitted - those who considered Dr. Cotard the beacon of wisdom and admired the pianist's playing, who was currently patronized by Madame Verdurin. The artist, nicknamed "Maestro Bish", was supposed to be pitied for his rough and vulgar style of writing. Swann was considered an inveterate heartthrob, but Odette was not at all to his taste. However, he was pleased to think that she was in love with him. Odette introduced him to the "clan" of the Verdurins, and gradually he got used to seeing her every day. Once he thought it looked like a painting by Botticelli, and with the sounds of Vinteuil's sonata, real passion flared up. Having abandoned his previous studies (in particular, an essay on Vermeer), Swann ceased to be in the world - now Odette absorbed all his thoughts. The first intimacy came after he straightened the orchid on her corsage - from that moment they had the expression "orchid". The tuning fork of their love was the marvelous musical phrase of Vinteuil, which, according to Swann, could not have belonged to the "old fool" from Combray. Swann soon became madly jealous of Odette. Comte de Forcheville, who was in love with her, mentioned Swann's aristocratic acquaintances, and this overwhelmed Madame Verdurin's patience, who always suspected that Swann was ready to "pull" out of her salon. After his "disgrace" Swann lost the opportunity to see Odette at the Verdurins. He was jealous of all men and calmed down only when she was in the company of the Baron de Charlus. Hearing Vinteuil's sonata again, Swann could hardly hold back a cry of pain: he could not return to that wonderful time when Odette loved him madly. The obsession passed gradually. The beautiful face of the Marquise de Govozho, nee Legrandin, reminded Swann of the saving Combray, and he suddenly saw Odette as she is - not like a painting by Botticelli. How could it happen that he wasted several years of his life on a woman who, in fact, he did not even like?

E. D. Murashkintseva

II. Under the shadow of girls in bloom (A l "ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs)

Marcel remembered the first family dinner with the Marquis de Norpois for a long time. It was this rich aristocrat who persuaded his parents to let the boy go to the theater. The marquis approved of Marseille's intention to devote himself to literature, but criticized his first drafts, and called Bergotte a "flutist" for his excessive passion for the beauties of style. The visit to the theater turned out to be a huge disappointment. Marseille felt that the great Berma did not add anything to the perfection of "Phaedra" - only later he was able to appreciate the noble restraint of her game.

Dr. Kotar was close to the Svans - he introduced his young patient to them. From the caustic remarks of the Marquis de Norpois, it is clear to Marcel that the current Swann is strikingly different from the former, who delicately kept silent about his high society connections, not wanting to embarrass his bourgeois neighbors. Now Swann turned into "Odette's husband" and boasted at all crossroads of his wife's success. Apparently, he made another attempt to conquer the aristocratic Faubourg Saint-Germain for the sake of Odette, once excluded from polite society. But Swann's most cherished dream was to introduce his wife and daughter into the salon of the Duchess de Guermantes.

At the Svans, Marcel finally saw Bergot. The great old man of his childhood dreams appeared in the form of a squat man with a crustacean nose. Marcel was so shocked that he almost fell out of love with Bergotte's books - they fell in his eyes along with the value of the Beautiful and the value of life. Only with time Marcel realized how difficult it is to recognize genius (or even just talent) and what a huge role public opinion plays here: for example, Marcel’s parents at first did not heed the advice of Dr. and a stupid person is a great clinician. When Bergotte praised Marcel's abilities, his mother and father immediately imbued with respect for the insight of the old writer, although they had previously given unconditional preference to the judgments of the Marquis de Norpois,

Love for Gilberte brought Marseille continuous suffering. At some point, the girl began to be clearly burdened by his company, and he undertook a workaround in order to re-awaken interest in himself - he began to visit Svans only in those hours when she was not at home. Odette played him a sonata by Vinteuil, and in this divine music he guessed the secret of love - an incomprehensible and unrequited feeling. Unable to stand it, Marcel decided to see Gilberte again, but she appeared accompanied by a "young man" - much later it turned out that it was a girl, Marcel, tormented by jealousy, managed to convince himself that he had fallen out of love with Gilberte. He himself had already gained experience in communicating with women thanks to Blok, who took him to a "fun house". One of the prostitutes was distinguished by a pronounced Jewish appearance: the hostess immediately christened her Rachel, and Marcel gave her the nickname "Rachel, you have been given to me" - for an amazing tractability even for a brothel.

Two years later Marcel came with his grandmother to Balbec. He was already completely indifferent to Gilberte and felt as if he had been cured of a serious illness. There was nothing "Persian" in the church, and he experienced the collapse of another illusion. But at the Grand Hotel, many surprises awaited him. The Normandy coast was a favorite vacation spot for aristocrats: the grandmother met the Marquise de Villeparisi here and, after long hesitation, introduced her grandson to her. In this way. Marcel was admitted to the "higher spheres" and soon met the great-nephew of the Marquise - Robert de Saint-Loup. The young and handsome officer at first unpleasantly struck Marcel with his arrogance. Then it turned out that he had a gentle and trusting soul - Marcel was once again convinced how deceptive the first impression can be. Young people swore to each other in eternal friendship. Most of all, Robert valued the joys of intellectual communication: there was not a drop of snobbery in him, although he belonged to the Guermantes family. He was unspeakably tormented by separation from his mistress. He spent all the money on his Parisian actress, and she told him to leave for a while - he annoyed her so much. Meanwhile, Robert enjoyed great success with women: however, he himself said that in this respect he was far from his uncle, Baron Palamede de Charlus, with whom Marcel was yet to meet. At first, the young man mistook the baron for a thief or a madman, for he looked at him with a very strange, piercing and at the same time elusive look. De Charlus showed great interest in Marseille and honored even his grandmother, who was preoccupied with only one thing - the poor health and sickness of her grandson.

Never before had Marcel felt such tenderness for his grandmother. Only once did she disappoint him: Saint-Au offered to take a photo for memory, and Marcel noted with irritation the vain desire of the old woman to look better. Many years later, he will realize that his grandmother already had a premonition of her death. A person is not given to know even the closest people.

On the beach, Marseille saw a company of dazzlingly young girls who looked like a flock of cheerful seagulls. One of them jumped over the frightened old banker with a running start. At first, Marcel almost did not distinguish between them: they all seemed to him beautiful, bold, cruel. A plump-cheeked girl in a bicycle cap pulled down over her eyebrows suddenly looked askance at him - did she somehow single him out from the vast universe? He began to wonder what they were doing. Judging by their behavior, they were spoiled girls, which inspired hope for intimacy - you just had to decide which one to choose. At the Grand Hotel, Marcel heard a name that struck him - Albertina Simone. That was the name of one of Gilberte Swan's school friends.

Saint-Loup and Marcel frequented the trendy restaurant in Rivbel. Once they saw the artist Elstir in the hall, about whom Swan was talking. Elstir was already famous, although the real glory came to him later. He invited Marcel to his place, and with great reluctance he yielded to his grandmother's requests to pay a debt of courtesy, for his thoughts were hushed up by Albertina Simone. It turned out that the artist knows the girls from the beach company very well - they were all from very decent and wealthy families. Marseille, struck by this news, almost lost interest in them. Another discovery awaited him: in the studio he saw a portrait of Odette de Crecy and immediately remembered Swann's stories - Elstir was a frequent guest of the Verdurin salon, where he was called "Maestro Bish", the Artist easily admitted this and added that he wasted several years in the world life.

Elstir arranged a "reception with tea?", and Marcel finally met Albertine Simone. He was disappointed, for he hardly recognized the cheerful, full-cheeked girl in the bicycle cap. Albertine looked too much like other young beauties. But Marcel was even more struck by the shy, delicate Andre, whom he considered the most impudent and decisive of the whole "flock" - after all, it was she who scared the old man half to death on the beach.

Marcel liked both girls. For some time he hesitated between them, not knowing which was dearer to him, but one day Albertina threw him a note with a declaration of love, and this decided the matter. He even imagined that he had obtained consent to intimacy, but his very first attempt ended in failure: Marcel, who had lost his head, came to his senses when Albertine began to violently pull the bell cord. The stunned girl told him later that none of the boys she knew had ever allowed themselves anything like that.

Summer is over, and the sad time of departure has come. Albertine was among the first to leave. And in the memory of Marcel forever remained a flock of young girls on a sandy strip of beach.

III. At the Guermantes (Le cote de Guermantes)

Marcel's family Moved to the wing of the Guermantes Mansion. Childish dreams seemed to come to life, but never before had the border between the Faubourg Saint-Germain and the rest of the world seemed so insurmountable to a young man. Marcel tried to attract the attention of the Duchess, lying in wait for her every exit from the house. Françoise also showed great interest in the “lower ones,” as she called the owners of the house, and often talked about them with her neighbor, the waistcoat Jupien. In Paris, Marcel came to the conclusion that snobbery is an essential feature of human nature: at all times people yearn to get closer to "the powers that be", and sometimes this desire turns into a mania.

Marcel's dreams came true when he received an invitation from the Marquise de Villeparisis. The magic circle of the Germantes opened before him. In anticipation of this important event, Marseille decided to visit Robert de Saint-Loup, whose regiment was quartered in Donsieres.

Saint-Loup was still consumed by his passion for his actress. This woman moved in intellectual circles: under her influence, Robert became a fierce defender of Dreyfus, while other officers mostly accused the "traitor".

For Marseille, his stay in Donsieres proved beneficial. Exhausted by his unrequited love for the Duchess de Guermantes, he found a card of "Aunt Oriana" on Robert's desk and began to beg his friend to put in a good word for him. Robert agreed without further ado - however, the nephew's ardent recommendation did not make any impression on the duchess. And Marcel experienced one of the greatest shocks of his life when Robert finally introduced his mistress to him. It was Rachel, "Rachel, you have been given to me," whom Marcel did not even consider a person. In the brothel she gave herself for only twenty francs, and now Saint-Loup threw her thousands for the right to be tormented and deceived. Like Swann, Saint-Loup was unable to understand the true nature of Rachel and suffered severely because of a woman who stood far below him both in development and in position in society.

At the reception at the Marquise de Villeparisi, the main topic of conversation was the Dreyfus affair, which split the country into two camps. Marcel saw in him another confirmation of the fluidity and variability of human nature. Mrs. Swann turned into an ardent anti-Dreyfusard when she realized that this was the best way to get into the Faubourg Saint-Germain. And Robert de Saint-Loup announced to Marcel that he did not want to get acquainted with Odette, since this slut is trying to pass off her Jewish husband as a nationalist. But the most original approach was demonstrated by Baron de Charlus: since no Jew can become a Frenchman, Dreyfus cannot be accused of treason - he just violated the laws of hospitality. Marcel noted with interest that the servants were imbued with the views of their masters: thus, his own butler was a mountain behind Dreyfus, while Guermantes' butler was anti-Dreyfusard.

Upon returning home, Marcel found out that his grandmother was very ill. Bergott recommended consulting a well-known neuropathologist, and he convinced his relatives that the grandmother's illness was caused by self-hypnosis. Mom very opportunely remembered Aunt Leonia, and grandmother was ordered to walk more. On the Champs Elysees, she had a slight blow - it seemed to Marcel that she was fighting off an invisible angel. She was correctly diagnosed by Professor E. - it was a hopeless stage of uremia.

Grandmother was dying painfully: convulsed, suffocated, suffered from unbearable pain. They gave her morphine and oxygen, made cauterization, put leeches and brought her to the point that she tried to jump out of the window. Marcel suffered from his impotence, while life went on: relatives were talking about the weather, Françoise took measurements for a mourning dress in advance, and Saint-Loup chose this moment to send an angry letter to his friend, clearly inspired by Rachel. Only Bergott, who himself was seriously ill, spent long hours in the house, trying to console Marcel. The dead face of the grandmother, as if transformed by the chisel of the sculptor-death, struck Marcel - it was young, like a girl's.

The Duke of Guermantes expressed condolences to Marseille's family, and soon the young man received a long-awaited invitation to the house of his idols. Meanwhile, Robert de Saint-Loup finally broke with Rachel and made peace with a friend. Albertine re-entered Marcel's life, much changed and matured after Balbec. From now on, one could hope for bodily intimacy, which brought Marcel untold pleasure - he seemed to be freed from all his anxieties.

Undoubtedly, the Guermantes were a very special breed of people, and now Marcel could take a closer look at them, highlighting the features inherent in each. The duke constantly cheated on his wife: in fact, he loved only one type of female beauty and was in an eternal search for an ideal. The duchess was famous for her wit and arrogance. But the most mysterious of all was the duke's brother, the Baron de Charlus. Already at a reception at the Marquise de Villeparisi, he invited the young man to his place, but this was opposed by the extremely alarmed mistress of the house. At the request of Saint-Loup, Marcel nevertheless went to the baron, who suddenly attacked him, accusing him of deceit and neglect. Enraged, Marcel, not daring to raise his hand against a man older than himself, grabbed a top hat lying on a chair and began to tear it, and then trampled it under his feet. De Charlus suddenly calmed down, and the incident was over.

Two months later, Marseille received an invitation from the Princess of Guermantes and at first thought it was a cruel joke - the salon of the beautiful princess was the pinnacle of the Faubourg Saint-Germain. Marcel tried to question the duke, but he brushed off his request, not wanting to get into an awkward position. At the Duke's, Marcel met Swann, who looked quite ill. To an invitation to go to Italy, he replied that he would not live to see the summer. The duke, who was going to a costume ball, was extremely annoyed by Swann's "tactlessness" - at the moment he was only worried that the duchess was wearing red shoes with a black dress.

IV. Sodom and Gomorrah

Marcel revealed the secret to de Charlus, becoming an unwitting witness to a love pantomime. At the sight of Jupien, the arrogant aristocrat suddenly wagged his back and began to make eyes, and the waistcoat pulled himself up valiantly and reached out to the baron, like an orchid to a bumblebee that suddenly swooped in. Both instantly recognized each other, although they had never met before. The veil fell from Marcel's eyes: all the oddities of de Charlus were immediately explained. It is no coincidence that the baron liked to compare himself with the caliph from Arabian tales, who walked around Baghdad in the clothes of a street vendor: the inhabitant of Sodom lives in a world where the most fantastic connections become a reality - a homosexual is able to leave the duchess for the sake of an inveterate swindler.

Marcel met Professor E. at Princess Hermant-Bavaria. Having learned about the death of his grandmother, he was delighted - his diagnosis was correct. Marseille followed with interest the maneuvers of the Baron de Charlus, who zealously courted women, but followed with a penetrating glance all handsome young men. The guests enthusiastically discussed the news of the day: the prince, known for his anti-Semitism, immediately drew Swann into the garden with the obvious intention of giving up the house. Marseille was struck by the cowardice of high society ladies; the Duchess de Guermantes felt sorry for "dear Charles", but was afraid even to say hello to him. And the duke blamed Swann for ingratitude: his friend should not have become a Dreyfusard. The rumors proved to be exaggerated; the prince preferred to defend Dreyfus alone with Swann, for he did not dare to do so openly. When Svan reappeared. Marcel guessed imminent death on his face, eaten away by illness.

Relations with Albertina entered a new stage - Marcel began to suspect that she was leading some other life hidden from him. He decided to resort to an already tested technique and part with the girl for a while. Madame Verdurin had so strengthened her position in society that she could afford to rent for the summer the castle of the Marquise de Govozho (La Raspellier), located next to Balbec. Marcel came here in pursuit of memories, and the memory overtook him: when he bent down to tie his shoelaces, he became ill from an attack of suffocation, and suddenly a grandmother appeared in front of him, whom he had almost forgotten about. Grandmother was always his savior and support, and he dared to lecture her in Donciere! The ill-fated card tormented his soul, and he realized that he would give everything in the world, just to return his beloved creature. But he saw real grief when his aged mother came to him: she was very much like her grandmother and read only her favorite books.

Albertine appeared in Balbec, but Marcel avoided her at first. He began to visit the Wednesdays at the Verdurins to listen to the music of Vinteuil. The old pianist died and was replaced by the handsome violinist Charles Morel. Baron de Charlus, in love with Morel, descended to the salon of the Verdurins, who at first treated him condescendingly, because they did not suspect his high position in society. When the baron noticed that the best of their guests would not be allowed further than the hallway of his brother the duke, Dr. Cotard told the "faithful" that Madame Verdurin was a well-to-do woman, and compared with her, the Princess de Guermantes was just a erratic erratic. Madame Verdurin harbored a grudge against the baron, but until Time endured his antics.

Marcel began to meet with Albertine again, and jealousy flared up with the same force - it seemed to him that the girl was flirting with both Morel and Saint-Loup. However, the thought of Gomorrah did not cross his mind until he saw Albertine and André dancing with their breasts pressed against each other. True, Albertine indignantly rejected the very possibility of such a connection, but Marcel felt that he was living in an atmosphere of widespread vice - for example, Blok's cousin lived with the actress, shocking the entire Balbec with her scandalous summing up.

Gradually, Marcel came to the conclusion that he should break with his beloved. Mom did not approve of this connection, and Françoise, who despised Albertine for her poverty, insisted that the young master would not end up in trouble with this girl. Marseille was only waiting for an excuse, but the unforeseen happened; when he mentioned his desire to listen to Vinteuil's last things, Albertina said that she knew the composer's daughter and her friend well - she considers these girls to be her "big sisters", because she learned a lot from them. Shaken, Marseille seemed to see in reality a long-forgotten scene in Montjuvin: the memory dozed in him like a formidable avenger - it was retribution for the fact that he could not save his grandmother. From now on, the image of Albertia will be associated for him not with the waves of the sea, but with a spit in the photograph of Vinteuil. Imagining his beloved in the arms of a lesbian, he burst into tears of impotent rage and announced to his frightened mother that he needed to marry Albertine. When the girl agreed to live with him, he kissed her as chastely as he kissed his mother in Combray.

V. Captive (La prisonniere)

Marcel, tormented by passion and jealousy, imprisoned Albertine in his apartment. When the jealousy subsided, he realized that he no longer loved his girlfriend. In his opinion, she had become very ugly and in any case could not reveal anything new to him. When jealousy flared up again, love turned into torment. Before Marcel it seemed that Gomorrah was in Balbec, but in Paris he became convinced that Gomorrah had spread all over the world. One day Albertine, without opening her eyes, tenderly called to André, and all Marcel's suspicions were revived. Only the sleeping girl aroused the former delight in him - he admired her as the canvases of Elstir, but at the same time he was tormented by the fact that she was slipping into the realm of dreams. Physical intimacy did not bring satisfaction, for Marcel longed to possess a soul that could not be given into his hands. In essence, this one. communication became a painful burden: constant supervision required his presence, and he could not fulfill his old dream - to go to Venice. But Albertine's kiss had the same healing power as my mother's kiss at Combray.

Marcel was convinced that the girl constantly lies to him - sometimes even for no reason. For example, she said that she had seen Bergotte on the same day that the old writer died. Bergott had been ill for a long time, almost did not leave the house and received only his closest friends. Once he came across an article about Vermeer's painting "View of Delft" with a description of the amazing yellow wall. Bergott adored Vermeer, but he did not remember this detail. He went to the exhibition, fixed his eyes on the yellow spot, and then the first blow overtook him. The old man did get to the couch, and then slid down to the floor - when he was lifted up, he was dead.

At the Guermantes mansion, Marseille often met the Baron de Charlus and Morel, who went to have tea with Jupien. The violinist fell in love with the waistcoat's niece, and the baron encouraged this relationship - it seemed to him that the married Morel would depend more on his generosity. Wanting to introduce the favorite into high society, de Charlus arranged a reception at the Verdurins - the violinist was supposed to play Vinteuil's septet, saved from oblivion by his daughter's girlfriend, who did a titanic work, sorting out the squiggles of the late composer. Marcel listened to the septet in mute reverence: thanks to Vinteuil, he discovered unknown worlds for himself - only art is capable of such insights.

De Charlus behaved like a host, and his noble guests paid no attention to Madame Verdurin - only the Queen of Naples treated her kindly out of respect for her relative. Marcel knew that the Verdurins had turned Morel against the baron, but he did not dare to intervene. There was an ugly scene: Morel publicly accused his patron of trying to seduce him, and de Charlus froze in amazement in the "pose of a frightened nymph." However, the Queen of Naples quickly put in place the upstarts who dared to offend one of the Guermantes. And Marcel returned home, full of anger towards Albertine: now he understood why the girl so asked to let her go to the Verdurins - in this salon she could meet Mademoiselle Vinteuil and her friend without interference.

Marcel's constant reproaches led Albertine to refuse to kiss him goodnight three times. Then she suddenly relented and tenderly said goodbye to her lover. Marcel fell asleep peacefully, for he had made a final decision - tomorrow he would go to Venice and get rid of Albertine forever. The next morning, Françoise, with undisguised pleasure, announced to her host that Mademoiselle had packed her bags and left.

VI. Fugitive (La fugitive)

Man does not know himself. Françoise's words caused Marcel such unbearable pain that he decided to return Albertine by any means. He learned that she was living with her aunt in Touraine. He sent her a falsely indifferent letter, at the same time asking Saint-Loup to influence her family. Albertine was extremely dissatisfied with Robert's rude interference. An exchange of letters began, and Marseille could not stand it first - he sent a desperate telegram with a plea to come immediately. A telegram was immediately brought to him from Touraine: his aunt reported that Albertine had died by falling from her horse and hitting a tree.

Marcel's torment did not stop: Albertine was to be broken not only in Touraine, but also in his heart, and it was necessary to forget not one, but countless Albertines. He went to Balbec and instructed the maître d' Aime to find out how Albertine behaved while living with her aunt. His worst suspicions were confirmed: according to Aimé, Albertina repeatedly started lesbian relationships. Marcel began to interrogate Andre: at first the girl denied everything, but then admitted that Albertine had been cheating on Marcel both with Morel and with herself. During the next meeting with Andre, Marcel happily felt the first signs of recovery. Gradually, the memory of Albertine became fragmentary and ceased to hurt. External events also contributed to this. Marseille's first article was published in Le Figaro. At the Guermantes he met Gilberte Swann, now Mademoiselle de Forcheville. After the death of her husband, Odette married her old admirer. Gilberte became one of the richest heiresses, and in the Faubourg Saint-Germain they suddenly noticed how well she was brought up and what a lovely woman she promises to become. Poor Swann did not live to see the fulfillment of his cherished dream: his wife and daughter were now taken in by the Guermantes - however, Gilberte got rid of both her Jewish surname and her father's Jewish friends.

But a full recovery came in Venice, where Marseille was taken by his mother. The beauty of this city had a life-giving power: it was an impression similar to Combray, only much more vivid. Only once did the dead love wake up: Marseille was brought a telegram in which Albertine informed him of her upcoming wedding. He managed to convince himself that he didn't want to think about her anymore, even if by some miracle she was still alive. Before leaving, it turned out that Gilberte sent the telegram: in her elaborate painting, the capital "Ж" looked like a Gothic "A". Gilberte married Robert de Saint-Loup, who was said to have entered the path of family vice. Marcel did not want to believe this, but was soon forced to admit the obvious. Morel became Robert's lover, which greatly angered Jupien, who remained faithful to the baron. At one time, Saint-Loup told Marcel that he would marry his Balbec girlfriend if she had a good fortune. Only now did the meaning of these words become clear: Robert belonged to Sodom, and Albertine belonged to Gomorrah.

The young couple settled in Tansonville - the former estate of Swan. Marcel came to the places so memorable to him in order to console the unfortunate Gilberte. Robert advertised his connections with women, wanting to hide his real inclinations and imitating this uncle, Baron de Charlus. Everything has changed in Combray. Legrandin, now related to the Guermantes, usurped the title of Comte de Mezeglise. Vivona seemed narrow and ugly to Marcel - was it really this walk that gave him such pleasure? And Gilberte unexpectedly admitted that she fell in love with Marcel at first sight, but he pushed her away with his stern appearance. Marcel suddenly realized that the true Gilbert and the true Albertine were ready to surrender to him at the first meeting - he spoiled everything himself, he "missed" them, failing to understand, and then frightened them with his exactingness.

VII. Time regained (Le temps retrouve)

Marcel visits Tansonville again and takes long walks with Madame de Saint-Loup, and then lies down to take a nap until supper. One day, in a brief moment of awakening from a dream, it seems to him that Albertine, long dead, lies nearby. Love is gone forever, but the memory of the body was stronger.

Marcel is reading the Diary of the Goncourts, and his attention is drawn to the entry about the evening at the Verdurins. Under the pen of the Goncourts, they appear not as vulgar bourgeois, but as romantic aesthetes: their friend was the most intelligent and highly educated doctor Kotar, and they lovingly called the great Elstir "Maestro Bish". Marcel cannot hide his astonishment, for it was these two who drove poor Swann to despair with their vulgar judgments. Yes, and he himself knew the Verdurins much better than the Goncourts, but did not notice any advantages in their salon. Does this mean a lack of observation? He wants to visit this "amazing clan" once again. At the same time, he experiences painful doubts about his literary talent.

Exacerbation of asthma forces Marcel to leave society. He is treated in a sanatorium and returns to Paris in 1916, at the height of the war. In the Faubourg Saint-Germain no one remembers the Dreyfus affair anymore - it all happened in "prehistoric" times. Madame Verdurin has greatly strengthened her position in society. The short-sighted Blok, who was not threatened by mobilization, turned into an ardent nationalist, and Robert de Saint-Loup, who despised ostentatious patriotism, died in the very first months of the war. Marcel receives another letter from Gilberte: she previously admitted that she fled to Tansonville out of fear of bombing, but now she claims that she wanted to defend her castle with weapons in her hands. According to her, the Germans lost more than a hundred thousand people in the battle of Meseglise.

The Baron de Charlus issued an open challenge to the Faubourg Saint-Germain, defending Germany from adjustments, and the patriots immediately remembered that his mother was the Duchess of Bavaria. Madame Verdurin declared publicly that he was either an Austrian or a Prussian, and that his relative, the Queen of Naples, was an undoubted spy. The Baron remains true to his perverted habits, and Marcel witnesses a masochistic orgy in a hotel he bought in the name of Jupien's former vest. Under the roar of falling German bombs, de Charlus prophesies to Paris the fate of Pompeii and Herculaneum, destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius. Marcel recalls the death of the biblical Sodom and Gomorrah.

Marcel once again leaves for a sanatorium and returns to Paris after the end of the war. He was not forgotten in the world: he receives two invitations - from the Princess Guermantes and the actress Berma. Like all aristocratic Paris, he chooses the salon of the princess. Berma is left alone in an empty living room: even her daughter and son-in-law secretly leave home, turning to her happy and mediocre rival, Rachel, for protection. Marcel is convinced that time is the great destroyer. Heading towards the princess, he sees the completely decrepit Baron de Charlus: having survived an apoplexy, he minces with great difficulty - Jupien leads him like a small child.

The title of Princess Guermantes now belongs to Madame Verdurin. Having become a widow, she married the prince's cousin, and after his death - for the prince himself, who lost both his wife and his fortune. She managed to climb to the very top of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, and the "clan" is gathering again in her salon - but her "faithful" herd is much larger. Marcel realizes that he, too, has changed. Young people treat him with emphatic deference, and the Duchess de Guermantes calls him "an old friend." Arrogant Oriana hosts actresses and humiliates herself in front of Rachel, whom she once bullied. Marcel feels like he's been to a costume ball. How dramatically the Faubourg Saint-Germain has changed! Everything here is mixed up, as in a kaleidoscope, and only a few stand unshakable: for example, the Duke of Guermantes, at his eighty-three years old, still hunts for women, and Odette became his last mistress, who seems to have “frozen” her beauty and looks younger than her own daughter. When a fat lady greets Marcel, he hardly recognizes Gilberte in her.

Marseille is going through a period of disillusionment - hopes to create something significant in literature have died. But as soon as he stumbles on the uneven slabs of the yard, longing and anxiety disappear without a trace. He strains his memory, and he remembers the Cathedral of St. Mark in Venice, where there were exactly the same uneven slabs. Combray and Venice have the ability to bring happiness, but it is pointless to return there in search of lost time. The dead past comes to life at the sight of Mademoiselle de Saint-Loup. In this girl, the daughter of Gilberte and Robert, two directions seem to be connected: Mezeglise - according to her grandfather, Guermant - according to her father. The first leads to Combray, and the second to Balbec, where Marcel would never have gone if Swann had not told him about the "Persian" church. And then he would not have met Saint-Loup and would not have ended up in the Faubourg Saint-Germain. And Albertina? After all, it was Swann who instilled in Marcel a love for Vinteuil's music. If Marcel had not mentioned the name of the composer in a conversation with Albertine, he would never have known that she was friends with his lesbian daughter. And then there would be no imprisonment, which ended in the flight and death of the beloved.

Realizing the essence of the planned work, Marcel is horrified: will he have enough time? Now he blesses his illness, although each walk to the Champs Elysees may be his last, as happened with his grandmother. How much energy was wasted on a scattered life in the world! And everything was decided on that unforgettable night when my mother renounced - it was then that the decline of will and health began. In the mansion of the Prince of Guermantes, Marseille clearly hears the steps of the parents escorting the guest to the gate, and the rattling of the bell, which announces that Swann has finally left. Now mom will go up the stairs - this is the only reference point in boundless Time.