Summary “Towards Svan”
Time eludes a brief moment between sleep and awakening. Within a few seconds, the narrator Marcel seems to have turned into what he read the day before. The mind is determined to locate the sleeping room. Is this the grandfather’s house in Combra, and Marcel fell asleep without waiting for Mom to come to him to say goodbye? Or is this the estate of Madame de Saint-Loup in Tansonville? Means, Marcel had slept too long after a day’s walk: the eleventh hour – everyone had supper! Then the habit comes into its own and begins to fill in habitable space with skillful slowness. But the memory has already awakened: this night Marcel will not fall asleep – he will remember Combray, Balbec, Paris, Donsier and Venice.
In the Combus of a small Marcel was sent to sleep immediately after supper, And my mother came for a minute to kiss him at night. But when the guests came, my mother did not go up to the bedroom. Usually Charles Swan, the son of a grandfather’s
After an unsuccessful marriage to a woman from a bad society, Swan was less and less often in Combra, but each of his parishes was a flour for the boy, for the farewell mother had to take her kiss with her from the dining room to the bedroom. The greatest event in Marcel’s life occurred when he was sent to bed earlier than always. He did not have time to say goodbye to his mother and tried to call her a note sent through the cook to Françoise, but this maneuver failed. Deciding
For a long time, Marcel, waking up at night, recalled the past fragmentary: he saw only the scenery of his care to sleep – the staircase along which it was so difficult to climb, and the bedroom with the glass door to the corridor where the mother came from. In fact, the rest of the Combray died for him, for no matter how much the desire to resurrect the past intensifies, it always eludes. But when Marcel felt the taste of a biscuit soaked in lime tea, suddenly flowers appeared in the garden from 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. Ilaria.
This biscuit was treated to Marcel’s aunt Leonia in those days when the family spent Easter and summer vacations in Combray. Auntie inspired herself that she was terminally ill: after her husband’s death she did not rise from the bed that stood at the window. Her favorite pastime was to watch the passers-by and discuss the events of the local life with the cook Françoise – a woman of the kindest soul, who at the same time knew how to cool the neck of the chicken coolly and survive the dishwasher dishonest to her.
Marcel loved summer walks in the outskirts of Combray. The family had two favorite routes: one was called “the direction to Mezegliz” (or “to Svan”, as the road passed by his estate), and the second – “the direction of the Germans,” the descendants of the famous Genevieve of Brabant. Children’s impressions remained in my soul forever: many times Marcel was convinced that he was truly pleased only by those people and those objects that he encountered in Combray. The direction to Mezeglis with its lilacs, hawthorn and cornflowers, direction to Hermant with a river, water-lilies and buttercups created an eternal image of the country of fairy-tale bliss. Undoubtedly, it was the reason for many mistakes and disappointments: sometimes Marcel dreamed of seeing someone just because this man reminded him of the flowering hawthorn bush in the park of Swann.
All the further life of Marcel was connected with what he had learned or seen in the Combray. Communication with the engineer Legenden gave the boy the first concept of snobbery: this pleasant, amiable person did not want to greet Marcel’s relatives in public, because he was related to aristocrats. The teacher of music Venteil ceased to visit the house, so as not to meet with Swann, whom he despised for marrying a kokotka. Venteil did not see the soul in his only daughter. When a girlfriend came to this somewhat masculine-looking girlfriend, they began talking openly about their strange relations. Venteil suffered unspeakably – perhaps, the daughter’s bad reputation before the term brought him to the grave. In the autumn of that year, when Aunt Leonia finally died, Marseille witnessed a disgusting scene in Montjuven: a friend of Mademoiselle Venteil spat in the photo of the late musician.
Of all the schoolmates, Marcel preferred Blok, who was welcome in the house, despite the obvious pretentiousness of manners. True, Grandfather chuckled at the grandson’s sympathy for the Jews. The block recommended Marcel to read Bergot, and this writer made such an impression on the boy that it was his cherished dream to get to know him. When Svan said that Bergot was friendly with his daughter, Marcel’s heart froze – only an extraordinary girl could earn such happiness. At the first meeting in the Tansonville park, Gilberta looked at Marcel with an unseeing glance-obviously it was an absolutely inaccessible creature. The relatives of the boy, however, paid attention only to the fact that Mrs. Svan, in the absence of her husband, shamelessly accepts Baron de Charlus.
But the greatest shock was experienced by Marcel in the Combeil church on the day the Duchess of Hermantine deigned to attend the divine service. Externally, this lady with a big nose and blue eyes almost did not differ from other women, but she was surrounded by a mythical aureole – one of the legendary Germantins appeared before Marcel. Passionately fell in love with the duchess, the boy reflected on how to win her favor. It was then that dreams were born of a literary career.
Only many years after his departure from Combra, Marcel learned about Swan’s love. Odette de Crecy was the only woman in the Verdurenov’s salon, where only the “faithful” were accepted, those who thought Dr. Kotar a luminous wisdom and admired the play of the pianist, who was currently supported by Mrs. Verduren. The artist, nicknamed “maestro Bish” was supposed to regret for the rude and vulgar style of writing. Swann was considered an inveterate heartthrob, but Odette was not at all his type. However, he was pleased to think that she was in love with him. Odette introduced him to the Verdurenov’s “clan”, and he gradually got used to seeing her every day. Once it seemed to him a resemblance to the picture of Botticelli, and when the Sonata of Venteille sounded, a real passion flared up. Having abandoned his previous studies (in particular, an essay on Vermeer), Svan ceased to be in the light – now all his thoughts were absorbed by Odette. The first affinity came after he corrected the orchid on her bodice – from that moment they had the expression “orchid”. The tunic of their love was the wondrous musical phrase of Wenteille, which, according to Swann, could not belong to the “old fool” of Combray. Soon, Swann began to be madly jealous of Odette. The Count of Forschwil, in love with her, mentioned the aristocratic acquaintances of Swann, and this overwhelmed the patience of Madame Verduren, who always suspected that Svan was ready to “pull” from her salon. After his “disgrace” Svan lost the opportunity to see Odette at the Verdurins. He was jealous of her all men and calmed down only when she was in the company of Baron de Charlus. Hearing the Ventais sonata again, Svan could hardly restrain the cry of pain: not to return already that beautiful time when Odette loved him madly. The obsession was gradual. The beautiful face of the Marquise de Govozo, who was born Legenden, reminded Svan of the saving Combray, and he suddenly saw Odette as she is-unlike Botticelli’s. How could it happen that he killed several years of life for a woman who, in fact, did not even like him?
Marcel would never have gone to Balbec if Swann had not praised the local church there in the “Persian” style. And in Paris Svan became the boy’s “father Gilberta.” Francoise was driving her pet to walk on the Champs-Elysees, where she played a girlish “flock” led by Gilberto. Marcel was accepted into the company, and he fell in love with Gilbert even more. He was fascinated by the beauty of Madame Swann, and the talk about her aroused curiosity. Once upon a time this woman was called Odette de Crecy.
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