Summary of “Proust Time Found”
Marcel again visits Tansonville and makes long walks with Madame de Saint-Loup, and then goes to sleep before dinner. Once, in the brief moment of awakening from sleep, he imagines that Albertine, who has long since died, lies nearby. Love is gone forever, but the memory of the body was stronger.
Marcel reads the “Diary of the Goncourts,” and his attention is drawn to the Record of the evening at Verdurenov. 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 of Kotar, and they were lovingly called the great Elstir “maestro Bish”. Marcel can not hide his astonishment, for it was these two who despised poor Svan with his vulgar judgments. And he himself knew Verdurenov much better than Goncourt, but did not notice any merit in their salon. Does this lack of observation? He wants to once again visit this “amazing clan”. At the same time,
The aggravation 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 Saint-Germain suburb no one remembers the Dreyfus affair – all this happened in prehistoric times. Mrs. Verduren has greatly strengthened her position in the world. The short-sighted Blok, who was not threatened with mobilization, turned into an ardent nationalist, and Robert de Saint-Loup, who despised ostentatious patriotism, perished in the first months of the war. Marcel receives another letter from Gilberta: she used to admit that she fled to Tansonville for fear of bombing, but now she claims she wanted to defend her castle with a weapon in her hands. According to her, the Germans lost more than one hundred thousand people in the Battle of Mezegliz.
Baron de Charlès threw open the challenge to the Saint Germain land, defending Germany from adjustments, and the patriots immediately remembered that his mother was the Duchess of Bavaria. Mrs. Verduren declared publicly that he was either an Austrian
Marcel once again leaves for the sanatorium and returns to Paris after the war. In light of it, he was not forgotten: he receives two invitations – from Princess Hermant and actress Berm. Like the whole aristocratic Paris, he chooses the salon of the princess. Berma remains alone in the empty living room: even her daughter and her son-in-law sneak out of the house, turning to patronize her happy and incompetent rival, Rachel. Marcel is convinced that time is a great destroyer. Going to the princess, he sees an absolutely decrepit baron de Charles: after surviving an apoplectic attack, he semen with great difficulty – Jupien leads him like a small child.
The title of Princess Hermantse belongs to Madame Verduren. Widowed, she married the prince’s cousin, and after his death – for the prince himself, who lost both his wife and fortune. She managed to climb to the very top of the Saint-Germain suburb, and the “clan” is again assembled in her salon – but the herd is much more “loyal” to her. Marcel understands that he himself has also changed. Young people treat him with emphatic reverence, and the Duchess of Germany calls him “an old friend.” Arrogant Oriana accepts actresses and is humiliated before Rachel, who once used to abuse. It seems to Marcel that he was on a costume ball. How dramatically the Saint-Germain suburb has changed! Everything here is mixed up, as in a kaleidoscope, and only a few are unshakable: for example, The Duke of Germany in his eighty-three years still hunts women, and her last mistress was Odette, who seemed to “freeze” her beauty and looks younger than her own daughter. When a fat lady greets Marcel, he hardly recognizes Gilbert in her.
Marcel is experiencing a period of collapse of illusions – the hopes of creating something significant in literature have died. But it is worth it to stumble over the uneven plates of the yard, how longing and anxiety disappear without a trace. He strains the memory, and he remembers the Cathedral of St. Mark in Venice, where there were exactly the same uneven plates. 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 alive at the sight of Mademoiselle de Saint-Loup. In this girl, the daughter of Gilbert and Robert, as if two directions merge: Mezegliz – according to grandfather, Hermant – by father. The first leads to Combray, and the second to Balbec, where Marcel would never have gone if Svan had not told him about the “Persian” church. And then he would not have met with Saint-Loup and would not have got into Saint-Germain’s precast. And Albertina? After all, Svan instilled Marcel’s love for the music of Venteil. If Marcel had not mentioned the composer’s name in conversation with Albertina, he would never have found out that she was friends with his lesbian daughter. And then there would be no imprisonment that ended with the flight and death of the beloved.
Realizing the essence of the planned work, Marcel is horrified: does he have enough time? Now he blesses his illness, although every walk to the Champs-Elysees can be his last, as happened with his grandmother. How much energy was wasted on the scattered life in the light! And everything was decided on that unforgettable night when my mother disowned – just then the decline of will and health began. In the mansion of the Prince of Germany, Marcel clearly hears the steps of the parents accompanying the guest to the gate, and the rattle of the bell, which announces that Svan has finally left. Now mom will climb the ladder – this is the only point of reference in boundless Time.
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