Within a Budding Grove (Part 1)

I don't know if it is my state of mind, but I found that after the gentle, meandering of the first book this was a little more difficult to read. Perhaps this was deliberate on Proust's part, after all, this is 'Marcel's' autobiography and we are  moving away from childhood.

The book opens with yet another party described in meticulous detail, this time a dinner party given by the narrator's parents who have invited the old ambassador, M. de Norpois over for dinner. It is some time after the narrator encountered Swann at his grandparent's house and he has fallen out of favour with the narrator's family due to Odette. Dr. Cottard, on the other hand, is enjoying the popularity that seems to have deserted Swann. Norpois, as a representative of the politica, is described satirically and is full of gossip about the Swann family.

The narrator is still somewhat obsessed with Gilberte, but is also completely obsessed with the actress Berma. He eventually manages to see her but is disappointed by her performance, only changing his mind about her when Norpois praises her.

Norpois scandalises the family by confessing he's been dining with Odette. She runs a kind of salon where married man go without their wives to meet women from the 'Republican world'. Swann has gone from discreetly associating with the pinnacle of society to openly boasting about the lower class people he invites over, and Swann's own aunt is trying to stop people from assoiciating with her. Norpois believes that Swann is 'not unhappy' although Odette uses Gilberte as a weapon to blackmail him. They seem to have found some sort of equilibrium where she is grateful for the marriage, although he worries about presenting her to the Duchesse. However, Norpois tells the narrator that Odette has already met her husband the Prince four years ago (before she married Swann), who likes her. Norpois met the writer Bergotte at the salon but disliked him so much that he puts the narrator off writing. Norpois offers to tell Odette and Gilberte about how much the writer admires them out of politeness but soon regrets it due to his gushing.

There is something sad about the way that Proust depicts Odette and Gilberte. I think that in one way the reader is meant to look down on them and on Swann for being in love with Odette, and the way that she is depicted is somewhat common and unattractive, particularly as she ages. Yet I think in some ways I sympathise with them. Swann seems to be terribly concerned with the opinions of society and despite Odette's commonness, there is probably something to be admired in a courtesan who manages to firmly cement her position in society despite all the problems she encounters. There is something sad about the narrator's obsession with Gilberte too, as if he can't help but follow Swann's example. Society, it turns out, does not make one happy, and the narrator is swayed by the opinions of the people around him, particularly his father's poor opinion of his ambition to become a writer.

Yet Proust also portrays society in such a satirical way that it is difficult to read the romance is a straightforward way. The opinions of the narrator's parents are not really either the narrator's opinions nor that of the writer. In retrospect the narrator does not seem to be that enamoured of Norpois even though his parents seem to believe he has class and the narrator himself takes his opinions as the truth, he is portrayed as being a bit shallow and gossipy. It's as if the people in the society have a kind of dual persona, the Swann who visits the grandparents is not the Swann of society, nor is he the Swann who is married to Odette giving dinner parties in the salon.

The narrator's ambitions to become a writer lead to major theme within the novel, that of the passing of time, which is capitalised. The narrator's childhood is behind him; his father believes that his personality is now fixed. something which the narrator finds rather depressing.

The new year brings a fresh determination to become acquainted with Gilberte, and resolves to write to Swann. Gilberte confesses to him that in actual fact her parents detest him and believe that he is 'a young person of love moral standard' whose 'influence over their daughter must be evil'. The narrator is rather offended and falls ill with chocking fits. The doctor prescribes caffeine along with whatever alcohol the narrator fancies, including beer, champagne and brandy. Dr. Cottarde then comes over and prescribes purges and milk (his wonder drug of choices), his parents are sceptical at first but eventually he tries it and recovers (due to not drinking more than anything).

Gilberte writes to him to invite him to tea. It is a kind of a parody of an adult tea party. He encounters Odette, who has become a copy of Mme Verdurin. They treat him like an honoured guest and the narrator imagines getting close to them. They are a bit too obsessed with impressing society, however, which amuses the narrator's parents. Then the Dreyfus affair happens, which affects society and no doubt society's opinion of Swann.

Otherwise, he tolerates and is even amused by Odette's ignorance, as the family tolerate the narrator, even though they seem to look down on him, probably because his parents are not really part of society.

Swann’s Way - Review

There is a kind of wonderful symmetry about the novel; I would describe it as being like a skilfully woven tapestry in the way that it all links together. I thought it would be useful to look at in a modernist context. I think that had it been written earlier there would have had to have been more of an emphasis on a straightforward narrative ‘autobiography’ style, whereas the book plays around with time, with language, with devices such as the inclusion of dreams and the use of food and drink to prompt memory or sensation. Nothing is fixed, and although there is a structure to it, it is not immediately apparent, unlike the earlier Victorian edifices, all craftsman built out of the solid construction of plot and character, this feels different. The plot is not linear, the characters are not fixed, and loose ends are left loose. Emotion and description are more important than plot.

It can seem as if Swann’s story has little relevance to the story of the narrator, yet it feels as if his story is the story of the narrator. I don’t know how this will be developed further in the novel but there is a feeling that the narrator is doomed to repeat Swann’s mistakes in becoming attracted to the wrong person. Also, Gilberte seems to be following her mother in the way that she seems to toy with the narrator’s affections. The narrator still hasn’t explained what prompted Swann’s unfortunate marriage either.

Frankly, this novel is a pain to read and a pain to write about. No matter what my estimation is as to how long it’s going to take me, I have to triple it then add some. I’ve had large chunks of time where I haven’t felt like picking it up, then large chunks of time where I’ve felt like reading it quite a bit. I do think it’s worth it, though. I can be reading along thinking ‘where the hell’s he going now?’ then suddenly I get an ‘aha’ moment where it all makes sense. I think it may take me two years to get to the end at least, and I may end up reading another BIHNR at the same time (I’m looking forward to reading Hilary Mantel’s books in particular). But it strengthens my concentration, particularly re-reading it on the Kindle when I am writing it up. I have no idea what to rate it as, I suppose I’d go with a four out of five, the one star being lost for sheer difficulty. 

Anyway, onto book two. 

Swann’s Way Part 6 – The novel’s close

Ivan Kramskoy painting, Bois de Boulangne

The final part seemed quite short compared to some of the parts I’ve written about. It’s at this point that I began to truly appreciate Proust’s mastery in the way that he completes the novel bringing everything together. I can see some of the themes and the motifs that he has used more clearly here, particularly how each of the characters play different roles throughout the novel, and how Swann’s experience is reflected by that of the narrator. 

The point of view is returned to the narrator who is a young man, on the cusp of adulthood. He has returned to Paris where he lives with his parents and Francois. Although he is not exactly a perfect specimen of manhood, he seems a little more confident and dreams of travelling away from Combrey. Combrey is an important location in the novel which represents different things, for example, it represents a place of security to Swann, a place where he can go to where he can recover from his relationship with Odette, and to the narrator I think it represents his childhood which he is slowly leaving behind him. 

Part of this is the proposed travel plans. The theme of duality is present here in the way that the narrator separates the way he imagines places from the places themselves, pointing out that they are completely different. He opens the chapter describing a room that he has visited in Balbec sometime in the past, but it is not at the moment he is describing, as he is prevented from travelling by an illness and is forced to confine himself to wandering around the Champs-Elysees with Francoise.

Balbec is associated in his mind with storms. Nature is another reoccurring motif in this chapter, and is associated with sex and with the transition into adulthood. The narrator longs to witness the storms as an example of something real and genuine as opposed to created by man. Legradin further improves if by describing its historical attraction, which the narrator asks Swann about. The imagery of fisherman living as they had always lived and of the Gothic church that Swann describes further sparks his imagination, and he day-dreams about taking the train to see Balbec. 

His desire is replaced when his parent offer to take him to Italy. Whereas Balbec is associated with storms, Italy is associated with sunshine and flowers (particularly lilies), and with architecture. The names take on a significance which is not related to how the places that he later visit really are. However, he is too ill to be able to travel, or to be able to do anything that excites him such as going to the theatre. He can only walk around the Champs-Elysee, a place which he cannot imagine anything about. 

On one of his visits he encounters Gilberte, Swann’s daughter. He immediately begins to obsess over her, and tries to meet her at every opportunity. She is not that attached to him at first, it is like she is an Odette in training in the way that his obsession and her indifference mirrors Swan and Odette’s romance. The narrator is already the type of person to obsess over people (hence his obsession with his mother kissing him in the night), now he transfers it to Gilberte. She meets a mysterious older woman who asks about her mother and sits reading the newspaper watching her grandchildren. The woman re-occurs several times in the narrative.

Gilberte doesn’t tell the narrator that she loves him, much to his despair. In fact, she compares him with other boys and can be cold towards him. He finds that the picture he has in his head of her is different to the way she really is. She buys him a marble the colour of her eyes to remind him of her, as well as an out-of-print pamphlet. He experiences a kind of doubling; there is a sense of multiple Gilbertes representing different things.

The narrator encounters her father, who is no longer friendly with “Marcel’s” parents. Whilst Swann is welcome at Combrey, I think his parents fear that inviting him will lead to his wife joining him, and besides, he has a bad reputation in Paris. He is fascinated by M. Swann, who doesn’t really recognise him (however, the narrator is quite embarrassed by his former behaviour in trying to force his mother to come up to see him).

He convinces himself that Gilberte is going to write a letter to him confessing her love and why she can’t tell him, she has to keep it a secret. Like Swann, he dreams of a woman who can be beside him, helping him with his work. He tries to get his parents to talk about Swann and particularly Gilberte’s friend, the mysterious lady. He has assumed that she is upper class (‘…she must at least me an Ambassador’s widow, if not actually a Highness’ p390) but his mother tells him that’s Mme. Blatin, a widow of a bailiff, and his mother had encountered her at his gymnastic lessons, where she kept bothering his mother. “She is, really, a horrible woman, frightfully vulgar, and besides, she is always creating awkward situations.” (ibid). His parents are unimpressed with his attempts to emulate Swann and lack of interest in anything but Swann, and he also becomes obsessed with Mme. Swann.

He witnesses the effects that her notoriety has on her in the way that she avoids speaking to anyone in the street although many men recognise her. She dresses too expensively, and behaves like she thinks she’s the queen, which draws attention to her. She has different faces for different men. She seems to want to be noticed, but doesn’t want to recognise it. People talk about her. 

His burgeoning sexuality is associated with his spying on Odette in the Bois de Boulogne, which in turn is associated with the jungle and other types of wild foliage such as trees and large red flowers. The trees represent women, hence the narrator’s association with the trees and the dryad. There is also something mysterious and sensual about the trees. He later remembers the park and the splendour of the carriages and the way that people dressed, comparing it unfavourable with the modern dress and motor cars. Like Swann, he longs to share a cup of tea with a sympathetic woman, but the houses that he remembers longing to visit have gone. 

The way that the novel concludes is perfect in its symmetry as the older narrator remembers how his younger self obsessed over Odette/Gilberte (I think that these two characters are doubled, as is the young narrator and Swann).

Swann’s Way Part 5 – Another unfortunate party

So, I left off with Swann still obsessing over Odette despite the Verdurins best efforts to separate them. She’s busy not only completely taking him for granted but also having affairs with other men. Swann stops meeting her at the Verdurin’s, now that the first flush of love is over he remembers that he hates them to the point of comparing their parties to the Dante’s last circle of hell. In return, Mme Verdurin thinks he’s ‘”too deadly for words, a stupid, ill-bred boor”’.  

He gets angry with her for having no taste and for lying to him. She puts on weight and grows less attractive but he loves her even more. She begins to go off on some little trips with the Verdurins where they try to persuade her to stay overnight and she refuses to send any messages to Swann, evidently attempting to stop him stalking her. Swann can only just resist from following her, fearing that she will be angry about it, whereas she doesn’t think of him at all. He has a kind of a crisis about it and worries that everything she says is a lie. He hires a private investigator to look into someone he considers a rival, but he only discovers her dead uncle.

Proust returns to the motif of the senses provoking emotion, Odette is making orangeade which causes him to lose his suspicions of her (p289), it’s as if he can only trust her when he is in her presence, shortly after they are separated he begins to torture himself imagining her being with Forcheville. He loves her, but hates her at the same time. She is like a morphine addiction or consumption, just as Swann thinks he is breaking the habit or being cured he succumbs again (p298). 

Swann asks his friend Adolphe to intercede on his behalf, and it is here we see how cleverly Proust has tied the novel together, as Adolphe is the narrator’s great uncle Adolphe and the narrator has already encountered Odette as his mistress. Adolphe is not that helpful and Odette tells Swann later on that he tried to rape her. Adolphe certainly has come off quite badly so far in the novel, I am not sure here whether Odette is telling the truth or not, she does have motivation to manipulate, lie and generally prevent Swann from finding out what’s going on. He finds out that she has led a ‘gay’ life in Nice (prostitution) and worries that she might have done it out of a ‘capricious instinct’ which will led her into it again. He is not worried about her reputation. She is extremely mysterious about what she does when she is away from him. She is quite dismissive towards him, with little respect and it’s quite tragic how obsessed he is still with her.

He is persuaded by the Baron de Charlus to attend a horrible society party given by the Marquise de Saint-Euverte. He does not intend to go to the musical evening, but Charlus convinces him that it will not be as boring as he expects and he wants Charlus to intercede with Odette on his behalf. 

Although the narrator can be quite snobbish at times, Swann is not affected by mixing with people of different classes. Proust has an unerring eye for the foibles of society and wonderfully describes how the contemptuous sneering footmen treat his hat like it is some sort of holy relic whilst treating him as if he’s nothing. Some of the guests are portrayed as being ugly and deformed, and not many of them are all that upper-class. The Marquise de Gallardon claims kinship with the Guermantes family and basks in underserved reflected glory, name-dropping at every occasion. But the Princesse de Laumes, her young cousin, doesn’t recognise her or invite her anywhere so she deceives herself that she doesn’t want to be invited in case she meets the Princesse Mathilde there. However, in this case the cousin turns up. The Princesse de Laumes behaves in a really snobbish but also awkward way. She arrives ‘with her arms pressed close to her sides, even where there was no crowd to be squeezed through, no one attempting to get past her; staying purposely at the back with the air of being in her proper place, like a kind who stands in the waiting procession at the doors of a theatre where the management have been warned of his coming;’ (p318). She is so far back she can’t see properly, and refuses to pretend that she likes the music in a really obvious way like the woman next to her, and then starts to feel really unsure of herself like she should pretend. The music is a little old-fashioned anyway, and some of the audience feel bad for enjoying it (including de Laumes). 

Gallardon rushes towards de Laumes, simultaneously attempting to remain unfriendly and distant towards her whilst inviting her over. De Laumes doesn’t ‘do’ society or going out, however, so turns her down. Gallardon is rude and anti-Semitic towards Swann, but de Laumes is friends with Swann so shuts up Gallardon by pointing out that Swann has never turned up to her house despite the social climber inviting him numerous times.

I think this is a reminder to the reader that Swann is still considered to be an outsider by certain members of society, and has always been considered an outsider. He hasn’t really cared about the opinions of society, hence his affairs with women. This doesn’t matter that much to the highest echelons of society that he moves in, de Laumes still considers herself a friend of his, but it does matter to the social climbers who are secretly unsure of their own position in society. So far, the narrator has confined himself mainly to the social climbers, the awfulness of society parties is perfectly captured, along with the humour inherent in the characters that attend. 

There is a sense that the narrator is being rather snobbish towards them, but this is tempered by the way that De Laumes is not spared either, along with her awkward way in society she has a rather unfortunate marriage to her cousin, who has been continually unfaithful to her since she married him. 

Mme de Cambremer is admired, despite almost interrupting the piano recital. I have a feeling that she might be an important character later on by the way that the narrator ensures that she is continually mentioned, even though she doesn’t have that big a role in the party itself. Des Laumes doesn’t seem to have anything that good to say about her, however, nor about the Iénas, her husband’s friends, who have some old-fashioned furniture. She seems to be lashing out a little because her husband is probably having an affair with the Princesse d’Iéna, but the guests dismiss what she says as ‘the wit of the Guermantes’ (p325).

Swann is very fond of de Laumes, partly because she reminds him of Guermantes, which is close to Combrey. He is a little flirtatious to her, but I think it’s more in a friendly, gallant way than anything else. She finds him witty and finds his compliments amusing. She asks him about Mme de Cambremer, Swann tells her that she was a Legradin who originally came from Combrey. Although they don’t talk of Odette, he feels comforted by her anyway. 

The music also reminds him of Odette and provokes memories of happier times; sights, smells and sensations. The overwhelming feelings cause him to realise that he has no hope with her: ‘…Swann could distinguish, standing, motionless, before that scene of happiness in which it lived again, a wretched figure which filled him with such pity, because he did not at first recognise who it was, that he must lower his head, lest anyone should observe that his eyes were filled with tears. It was himself.’ (p338). Vinteuil’s sonata marks the beginning of his romance and the end. 

Whenever she is kind to him, instead of seeing it as a sign of a renewed affection he compares it to the kind of sensation a person feels who is nursing a friend suffering from a terminal illness and the friend has a kind of temporary relapse, although the person still realises that the friend is still going to die. He does not have the courage to end it himself. 

He dreams of going away on a train, leaving behind a young man on the platform whom he is trying to convince to go away with him. The young man reoccurs later in the narrative, where it is revealed that he is an aspect of Swann himself. Here, he represents the part of Swann who is happily in love with Odette, a part which Swann is trying to hold on to but has to reluctantly leave behind.  His relationship with her is a kind of gender reversal in that although he started off being the one who had all the power, his obsession with her somewhat emasculates him. She ends up with all the power, he submits to her and tries to get his friends to ‘put in a good word’ with her (which doesn’t work anyway). 

She plans to leave for Egypt with Forcheville, he is afraid to question her about whether she is his mistress in case she becomes angry. He also receives a letter anonymously saying that she had been the mistress of a number of men, including Forcheville, a number of women, and that she frequents ‘houses of ill-fame’. He is not that upset by the contents of the letter, just upset that someone who evidently knows him quite well would write an anonymous letter to him. It causes him to suspect all his close friends, including servants and the narrator’s grandfather, but doesn’t believe the letter.

He does, however, start to question Odette’s relationship with Mme. Verdurin, and he suspects that they had a lesbian affair. He questions her, but she denies it, eventually admitting that she is lying and she did have a relationship with a woman, something which he considers ‘evil’ (p345) and compares to some sort of disease he needs to prevent. He still loves her: ‘this Odette, from whom all this evil sprang, was no less dear to him, was, on the contrary, more precious, as if, in proportion as his sufferings increased at the same time the price of the sedative, of the antidote which this woman alone possessed.’ She tries to dismiss it, but he realises that she could’ve been lying all along. He goes to brothels to try to find out something about her.

She goes off on a cruise with the Verdurins which takes far longer than expected; meanwhile, Swann starts to extricate himself from her. However, he meets Mme Cottard who tells him that Odette was always talking about him on the cruise. Mme Cottard seems to try to re-awake his feelings of love for her, but he has decided not to see her again. 

A few weeks later he dreams of walking along the coast at twilight with Mme Verdurin, Dr. Cottard, a young man in a Fez, the painter, Odette, Napoleon III and the narrator’s grandfather (p360). He can feel the spray from the waves on his face and Odette tells him to wipe it off, but he feels ‘confused and helpless’ by her presence and is wearing his nightshirt. Mme Verdurin grows a bigger nose and a moustache; Odette loves him so much she is on the verge of tears but looks at her watch and decides she must go. He is unable to follow and feels that he hates her. They part and the painter tells him that Napoleon III has gone after Odette, which makes the young man cry. Dream Swann comforts him and he realises that the man in the fez is himself. Napoleon III is Forcheville. He has a vision of destruction, hearing the thunder of waves and the beating of his own heart, feeling sick and in pain, then encounters a ‘dreadfully burned peasant’ (p362) who tells him to ask Charlus about Odette and her friend who started the fire, then he wakes up.

Eric C. Hicks (‘Swann’s Dream and the World of Sleep’, Yale French Studies No. 34, Proust (1965), pp. 106-116) analyses Swann’s dream, linking the word éclaboussure meaning to ‘splatter’ (which Proust has used to describe the freezing spray) but also related to someone’s name being smeared and ‘to flaunt one’s magnificence (or wealth) in another’s face’. This is linked to Swann’s disgrace, along with Mme. Verdurin’s transformation linked to her reaction to something Forcheville has said about Swann and her general hostility to Swann (I also interpreted this as Swann’s subconscious reaction to discovering that Odette and Mme. Verdurin had had an affair, he feels emasculated). Mme Verdurin also prevents Swann from challenging Odette and her leaving followed by Napoleon III is reminiscent of her leaving in Forcheville’s carriage (Napoleon III was a notorious womanizer). As the man in the fez is a representation of a previous incarnation of Swann (Swann who loves Odette and is probably going to go with her to Egypt), the Odette who is about to cry and whom dream Swann feels he wants to carry off with him, is the previous incarnation of Odette who was trying to get Swann to love her (Swann notes that she looks sad when she tries to attract other lovers). Duality is a reoccurring motif throughout the dream, with the duality of Swann, Odette and Napoleon and Swann’s sensation that he can reproduce himself, as is binary opposition - light/dark, low/high, love/hate, up/down, and disorientating sensations such as the feeling of holding a strange hand and of being able to hear his own heart beating. I think the horribly burned peasant represents the destructiveness of Odette and Forcheville’s affair, Hicks’s theory is that the peasant is yet another part of past Swann.

Swann decides to go to Combrey to see Mme de Cambremer. He realises that he has misrepresented her to himself and wasted time and agony on her. His love for her is over.

Swann’s Way Part 4 – The Kiss

So, I left off at the point where Swann had found Odette after desperately searching for her. Now he invites her into his carriage to take her home.  

She is covered in cattleyas, holding a bunch, fastened to her swansdown plume and attached to the front of her dress. She is in a state of shock at seeing Swann, whom she probably assumed couldn’t be bothered to come to the Verdurin’s latest party. The carriage knocks them around a little, which makes her feel breathless; he is solicitous but will not allow her to speak, offering to adjust the flowers on her bodice which were loosened by the carriage bumping, to brush off some pollen that has fallen on her dress and to smell her flowers to see if they have lost their scent. She scarcely seems to know how to react to him, and he doesn’t’ seem to want her to speak or react that much. 

I wanted to do a close reading of the next part. 

He slipped his other hand upwards along Odette’s cheek; she fixed her eyes on him, with that languishing and solemn air which marks the women of the old Florentine’s paintings, in whose faces he had found the type of hers; swimming at the brink of her fringed lids, her brilliant eyes, large and finely drawn as theirs, seemed on the verge of breaking from her face and rolling down her cheeks like two great tears. She bent her neck, as all their necks may be seen to bend, in the pagan scenes as well as in the scriptural. And although her attitude was, doubtless, habitual and instinctive, one which she knew to be appropriate to such moments, and was careful not to forget to assume, she seemed to need all her strength to hold her face back, as though some invisible force were drawing it down towards Swann’s. And Swann it was who, before she allowed her face, as though despite her efforts, to fall upon his lips , held it back for a moment longer, at a little distance between her hands. He had intended to leave time for her mind to overtake her body’s movements, to recognise the dream which she had so long cherished and to assist at its realisation, like a mother invited as a spectator when a prize is given to the child whom she had reared and loves. Perhaps, moreover, Swann himself was fixing upon these features of an Odette not yet possessed, not even kissed by him, on whom he was looking now for the last time, that comprehensive gaze with which, on the day of his departure, a traveller strives to bear away with him in memory the view of a country to which he may never return. 

The first time I read this passage I thought it was beautiful, but on re-reading it I found that there are things about it that indicate that all is not as romantic as it first seems. Firstly there is the imagery of her seeming to be on the verge of tears. She ‘knew her attitude to be appropriate to such moments’ – although Swann may forget that Odette is really just a courtesan, the narrator doesn’t let the reader forget. He tries to resist her kiss; the narrator suggests that it is through wanting to prolong her perceived purity, but use of ‘intended’ seems to suggest that Swann has been planning it. The language Proust uses is not that of two lovers, he uses a simile related to a mother and child and to the kiss being like a child’s prize, and there is something a bit peculiar about it. Perhaps it is down to the sense that Swann feel protective towards her, although it is not sure whether Odette actually does need protecting or if her seeming innocence, deferral to Swann’s intelligence and behaving in a wifely way towards him is merely an act to seduce him which has evidently worked. Finally, the narrator returns to the theme of the traveller from the overture, although in this case it is not coupled with the imagery of the invalid, instead it is more to do with memory.

Odette is mostly seen through Swann’s obsession, but Swann himself is mostly seen through the narrator’s gaze and they are both complex characters who can be subject to multiple interpretations. There is a sense that in some ways the narrator romanticises both of them. Odette is an enigma, why does Swann seem to force himself to love her? It’s almost as if he is behaving like an aging roué who has to find some woman, any woman to settle down with, even a former courtesan. I suppose he has probably burnt his boats as far as respectable women are concerned as he has applied to all his acquaintances to meet different women. He is curiously shy and timid towards her, hiding behind the pretence of rearranging her flowers to make sexual advances towards her. 

The relationship completely changes him in that he gives up other women: ‘Swan was no longer the same man’ (p232). He goes to see Odette every night, getting her to play Vinteuil’s sonata which heightens and intensifies his love: ‘one would have said that he was inhaling an anaesthetic which allowed him to breathe more deeply’ (p234). I think the use of ‘anaesthetic’ here is telling – it is as if he has become ‘drugged’ by her. Love affects the senses, intoxicates. 

He knows very little about what she does during the day and little of her past, only that she was a ‘tart’ and a ‘kept woman’ previously. He believes that she is ‘incapable of not telling the truth’ (p237), demonstrated by her apparent embarrassment at being caught out in a white lie. He is disturbed by the thought of her life away from him. He recognises and accepts her lack of taste and intelligence and she hides away from society, fearing gossip from a former friend she fell out with, whereas he is instinctively at ease moving in all circles. The narrator suggests that he is ‘slumming it’ and stooping to her level (p243), changing his tastes and opinions to suit hers.

He deceives himself about the Verdurins, spending more and more time with them. Odette gets them to invite the Comte de Forcheville (brother-in-law to Saniette) to a terrible party. Forchville is extra vulgar and tries to seduce Odette, the doctor makes awful puns and Brichot (a visiting professor) is a big fraud. Swann is defensive towards Forcheville and Brichot because he fears that Odette may go off with one of them, so he offends everyone instead and the Verdurin’s lose respect for him. 

He is continually buying presents for Odette and bailing her out of financial problems, not considering that she may be a gold-digger but fearing that she will go off him if he doesn’t financially reward her. It is almost as if he is ill: ‘But that state of excitement into which Odette’s presence never failed to throw him, added to a feverish ailment which, for some time now, had scarcely left him’. (p265). One night, when she is feeling unwell and denies him sexual favours, he convinces himself that there is a man visiting and spies on her, but looks in the wrong window. 

Gold Digger! (link)

 He is tortured by his love for her and cannot take any pleasure in it. The reader knows what will happen, after all, Odette is highly likely to be the ‘unfortunate wife’ of the first part that he feel no love for and who seems to be an embarrassment. What isn’t known is how or why he gets to that stage, although the narrative clearly points to this love affair becoming a complete disaster for him.