Review

Marcel Proust ‘Swann’s Way’ is an avant-garde tale of nostalgia and musings on the human condition. Proust goes into astonishing detail about sensory memory and how the past influences the present moment.

The novelette has often been described as an overture by reviewers who point out how it is structured like a tiny version of the ‘Recherche’. Since the events in the story occurred before Marcel was born, he will recapitulate many of his older counterpart’s errors and misadventures. Marcel will tell us the story as he has heard it from others. The story also provides the novel’s first prolonged experience of the theme of the passage of time as it serves as a study of change across several decades.

Style of Prose

Marcel Proust’s ‘Swann’s Way’ has a reputation for being challenging because of its profusion of topics, lengthy scenes, and extended phrases. In a sketch from the comedy program Monty Python, competitors in an “All-England Summarize Proust Competition” are eliminated one by one, mocking its intimidating reputation. The famous opening line of ‘Swann’s Way’ is the succinct and crystalline “For a long time I used to go to bed early,” which proves that Proust was, in reality, a remarkably lucid writer. But ‘Swann’s Way’ frequently has lengthy stretches; in part, this is because Proust used an essayistic narrative style. Proust regularly breaks from scenes and summaries to talk about things like psychology, time, and desire. ‘Swann’s Way’ also frequently employs what can be referred to as a fugue, a musical or thematic narrative device, to repeat occurrences.

Scenes in ‘Swann’s Way’ are detailed; summation takes place at a greater level of generality. A scene is a distinct event, like this line from ‘Swann’s Way’s’ Overture: “And immediately the recollection returned.” A summary is a means of talking about recurring events, like the famous opening line from ‘Swann’s Way’: “For a long time I used to go to bed early.” Since it no longer focuses just on the characters, the essayistic fictional narrative could be conceived of as occurring on an even greater level of generality.

For instance, a recap of Marcel’s early bedtimes and specific scenes of Marcel’s mother bidding him goodnight may be found in Part 1 of ‘Swann’s Way.’ Essayistic discussions of sleep, habit, and misery are also included. For instance, Marcel writes, “A man has the chain of the hours in a circle around him when he is asleep.” This provides insight into people in general and is not just about Marcel or the characters in the book. Although Proust is not the first author to offer broad ideas, he does so to a great extent in ‘In Search of Lost Time.’

‘Swann’s Way’s’ length is partially explained by the essayistic narration, but Proust’s use of melodic or theme narrative also results in a lengthy book. Events in ‘Swann’s Way’ frequently repeat or progress slowly. For instance, the moment in Part 1 where Marcel dips a madeleine into tea is well-known; the taste and fragrance (sensory memory) cause Marcel to be unexpectedly transported back to his youth in Combray, France. But before the “sudden” insight occurs, Marcel dips the madeleine again and muses over the experience for several lengthy pages.

Similar to Swann, who discovers Odette no longer loves him after reading an anonymous letter about her numerous affairs in Part 3, this understanding comes slowly and throughout numerous individual interrogations of Odette.

Symbolism in Swann’s Way

When he is young, the narrator, Marcel, experiences sleeplessness. He only finds relief from his mother’s goodnight kiss throughout his sleepless evenings. Marcel, however, is not given a goodnight kiss when the family has dinner guests, and he is aware that his mother will not be visiting him in his room. Marcel climbs the stairs to get to his room “in defiance of my heart’s yearning, which was to return to my mother.” The staircase represents Marcel’s detachment from all he yearns for, specifically his mother’s tenderness.

Similarly, another symbolic element of ‘Swann’s Way’ is the presence of the magic lamps. A magic lamp is handed to the narrator, Marcel, to help him sleep. A magic lantern, which projected translucent images painted on glass plates, was the forerunner of the modern slide projector. The pictures “placed for the opaqueness of [his] walls an impalpable iridescence, magical occurrences of various colors,” according to Marcel, who gets seduced by them. A primitive form of moving image could also be projected by magic lanterns. The fabled knight Golo is described by Marcel as traveling “at a jerky pace” over the walls of his bedroom. The shapes of objects they land on, such as a doorknob or a chair, are projected onto Marcel’s walls as the magic lantern’s images.

Marcel Proust also employs symbolism in the relationship between Swann and Odette. Swann hears a sonata one evening by the composer Vinteuil, and one section of it particularly affects him. The deep blue turbulence of the sea “silvered and bewitched into a minor note by the moonlight,” according to Swann, is how this “small sentence” sounds. Swann hears the sonata with his lover, Odette, therefore, the brief phrase quickly comes to represent his love for her. He frequently requests that Odette perform the sonata for him. Swann’s repeated thoughts of Odette are analogous to the phrase from the Vinteuil sonata that repeats itself. Just as he cannot resist becoming fixated on the small sentence, he also cannot stop wondering where she is and who she is with. Even when he no longer likes the song, it continues to stick in his head. Since Swann is obsessed with Odette despite realizing that she is not his type, the term perfectly captures his love for her.

Literary Elements of Swann’s Way

Imagery

Images of the countryside, captivating vistas, strong family ties, a mother kissing her son good night, a scared youngster, a wealthy man consumed by the love of a woman, and a restless child can all be seen. The narrator has also been shown to take numerous paths and appreciate the beauty all around him by the author. There are pictures of Swann relaxing and listening to music at a salon. He is also shown to be a fan of Odette and art. The work frequently depicts Odette’s infidelity in its imagery. Forcheville and other men were involved in physical relationships with her. The story also includes visual representations of many journeys.

Parallelism

There are similarities between things and memories. While Marcel is reminded of his childhood, his fear of going to bed, and his love for nature and Gilberte, Swann is motivated by a wave of nostalgia after listening to a particular musical passage. Another comparison has been made between Swann’s devotion to Odette and her adultery. She became more uninterested in him the more he adored her. Although he loved her more than anything else, she continued to have affairs with other men.

Paradox

Swann chases after Odette at night and falls deeply in love with her, but when she betrays him, he leaves her and claims that she is not his type, which is the paradox in the story. The fact that Marcel loves Gilberte but feels conflicted about it adds another complication to the narrative. While thinking back on her in his later years, he saw his love as a form of nostalgia.

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