Marcel Proust's life hard labor. Marcel Proust: biography, creativity, ideas of works

MARCEL MARSEAU Real name - Marcel Mangel (born in 1923) An outstanding French mime actor, who is called the most popular Frenchman of our time. Many schools of acting and circus skills are named after him, the Paris Mint issued in his honor

PROUST MARSEL (b. 1871 - d. 1922) French writer. Cycle "In Search of Lost Time", which includes seven novels; unfinished novel "Jean Santey"; book of short stories "Joys and Days"; book of essays "Against Saint-Beuve". In literature, this often happens: a writer, a little

From Livorno to Marseille On November 9, 1600, the new queen arrived in Marseille. Marseilles rejoiced endlessly at the arrival of Marie de Medici in their city. On the pier, red carpets were unrolled in her honor. Maria was somewhat disappointed: Heinrich did not meet her. Although she knew that

Valentin Louis Georges Eugene Marcel Proust(French Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust; July 10, 1871 - November 18, 1922) - 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 (fr. À la recherche du temps perdu), one of the most significant works of world literature of the 20th century.

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 - the 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, the composer's son, Lucien Daudet, the novelist's son, the future modernist painter Maurice Denis, and the future poet Fernand Greg (1873-1960).

Proust soon began attending fashionable literary and art salons. He studied at the Faculty of Law of the Sorbonne, but did not complete the course. He led the salon chronicle department in the Le Figaro newspaper. Of the Parisian salons, three played a special role in Proust's life: the salon of Mrs. Strauss (Geneviève Halévy (1849-1926)), Bizet's widow; the salon of Madame de Caiave, beloved of Anatole France; Salon Madame Lemaire (1845-1928).

From November 1889, Proust spent a year military service in Orleans. In June 1895, he went to work in the Mazarin library, but immediately took a vacation "at his own expense", which he continuously extended until 1900. In early 1892, Proust and his friends founded the journal The Feast.

In 1894 he published a book of prose poetry in a decadent style. The book went almost unnoticed, and Proust gained a reputation as a man of the world and an amateur. In 1895 Proust began to write big romance, many storylines which were repeated in "Search". It was "Jean Santey", work on which was interrupted in 1899 and was finally abandoned.

In 1896, Proust published a collection of short stories, Joys and Days (with a preface by Anatole France and illustrations by Madame Lemaire). The poet and novelist Jean Lorrain greeted the book with a devastating review, which caused a duel between writer and critic. The duel took place in February 1897 in the southwestern suburb of Paris, Meudon. Proust's second was his friend, the impressionist painter Jean Bero.

Proust took an active part in political life only once, during the period of the Dreyfus affair. He signed the appeal of cultural figures on the revision of the sentence, persuaded Anatole France to also sign this text. In February, Proust attended the Zola trial.

The photo that shocked Proust's mother: Marcel Proust (sitting), Robert de Fleur (left) and Lucien Daudet (right), c. 1894.

Proust was an Anglophile, which is reflected in his writings. translated literary works from English to French. In 1904-1906, Proust published translations of English books art critic John Ruskin's Amiens Bible and Sesame and Lilies.

Proust was homosexual and is believed to have had a long relationship with the pianist and composer Reinaldo Ahn.

In 1903, his father died, and in September 1905 - his mother, who loved him dearly. Proust received a rich inheritance, but a severe form of asthma forced him to lead a reclusive life since 1906. At the very end of 1906, Proust moved from the Rue de Courcelles (where the family had lived since 1900) to Boulevard Haussmann, to the apartment of his uncle Georges, who had just died. 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. By the end of 1911, the first version of The Search was completed. It had three parts ("Lost Time", "Under the Shadow of Girls in Bloom" and "Time Regained"), the book was supposed to fit in two voluminous volumes. In 1912 it was called "Interruptions of Feeling". Proust could not find a publisher who would agree to publish it. At the end of the year, Faskel and Nouvel Revue Française (Gallimard) publishing houses sent refusals, and at the beginning of the next year Ollendorf was rejected. The publisher was Bernard Grasset. He released the book (at the expense of the author), but demanded that the manuscript be shortened.

The novel "Towards Swann" was published in November 1913 and was received coolly by both readers and critics. The outbreak of war, Grasset's departure to the front and the closure of the publishing house (although the second volume was already being typed), forced Proust to continue his work. Three parts turned into five - "Towards Svan", "Under the canopy of the girls in bloom", "At the Guermantes", "Sodom and Gomorrah" (which broke up into Sodom and Gomorrah proper, in two parts, "The Captive" and Runaway) and Time Regained. In 1919-1927, the Gallimard publishing house released all the other volumes.

Although Proust believed that he had completed the book in 1918, he continued to work hard and edit it until last day own life.

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

In the autumn of 1922, returning from guests, the writer caught a cold and fell ill with bronchitis. In November, bronchitis turned into pneumonia.

Creation

Early work

Proust began to write and publish early. While still at school, he published in literary magazines « La Revue verte" And " La Revue lilas". From 1890 to 1891, Proust wrote a salon chronicle column in the magazine Le mensuel". From 1892 published in " Le Banquet"(Feast), which he created with friends, as well as in the prestigious magazine" La Revue Blanche».

In 1896 a collection of short stories and poems was published. Joys and days”, based on these early publications. The preface to the book was written by Anatole France, the drawings were made by Madeleine Lemaire, in whose salon Proust was frequent guest. The book was so lavishly printed that it cost twice as much as other similar books.

In the same year, Proust began work on a novel, which was published only in 1952 under the title " Jean Santey". Many of the themes covered in this unfinished novel were later developed by Proust in his series ”, including the theme of the mystery of time and the need for reflection. Portrait of parents in " Jane Santee” is rather harsh, in sharp contrast to the adoration with which he described his parents in his main work. Because of "Joys and Days" received a poor reception, and also due to difficulties with plot construction, Proust gradually abandoned work on the novel in 1897, and in 1899 completely stopped working on it.

From 1895 Proust spent several years reading Thomas Carlyle, Ralph Emerson and John Ruskin. Through this reading, Proust began to hone his own theories of art and the role of the artist in society. Proust adopted Ruskin's "fidelity to nature" principle. Ruskin's works were so important to Proust that he claimed to know some of them by heart, including "Seven Lights of Architecture", « Bible of Amiens" And " Praeterita».

Proust was going to translate two of Ruskin's works into French, but his knowledge of English was imperfect. So he made this translation collective, sketches were made by his mother, checked by Proust, then by Marie Nordlinger, the English cousin of his friend Reinaldo Ahn, and then again by Proust. To the dissatisfaction of the editor with this method, Proust replied: "I do not claim to know English, I claim to know Ruskin." " Bible of Amiens with an extensive introduction by Proust was published in French in 1904. Henri Bergson called Proust's introduction "an important contribution to Ruskin's psychology" and also praised the quality of the translation. By that time, Proust was already translating " Sesame and lilies”, which he completed in July 1905, just before his mother’s death, and published in 1906. Critics and literary historians believe that, in addition to Ruskin, Proust was influenced by the work of Saint-Simon, Montaigne, Stendhal, Flaubert, George Eliot, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy.

1908 was an important year for the formation of Proust as a writer. During the first half of the year, he published parodies of other writers in various magazines. These exercises in imitation allowed Proust to hone his own style. Also in the spring and summer of this year, Proust is working on several passages, which he later compiled into a collection "Against Sainte-Beuve". Proust described his work in a letter to a friend: “I have a work in progress: a study on the nobility, Parisian romance, an essay on Sainte-Beuve and Flaubert, an essay on women, an essay on homosexuality (which will not be easy to publish), a study on stained glass, on tombstones, a study on the novel.

From these disparate fragments, Proust began to create a novel. Rough sketches focused on the main character, who, suffering from insomnia, remembers his childhood, and how he waited for his mother to come in the morning. The novel was supposed to end with a critique of Sainte-Beuve and a refutation of his theory that the author's biography is the most important tool for understanding his work. Problems finding a publisher, as well as a change in the idea of ​​the novel, forced Proust to switch to another project, and in 1910 Proust began work on his main work, " In search of lost time».

In search of lost time

Started in 1909, the In Search of Lost Time series consists of seven novels with about 2,000 characters. Graham Greene called Proust the best novelist of the 20th century, and Somerset Maugham called the novel "the best artwork to date". Proust died before he could edit the last volumes of the work, three of which appeared posthumously and were edited by his brother Robert.

In the USSR in the 1930s, the first four volumes of the cycle were published, translated by Adrian Frankovsky. In the 90s, the entire epic was published in Russia - the first six volumes translated by Nikolai Lyubimov, (the first volume - "Towards Svan" in his translation was published back in 1973), last volume- translated by A. I. Kondratiev, then - translated by A. Smirnova. In the 2000s, translations of the first two volumes of the cycle were published, translated by Elena Baevskaya.

Major works

• 1896 - Joys and days (fr. Les Plaisirs et les Jours)
• 1896 - 1899 - Jean Santeuil (fr. Jean Santeuil)
• 1908 - 1909 - Against Sainte-Beuve (fr. Contre Sainte-Beuve)
• The cycle "In Search of Lost Time" (French À la recherche du temps perdu):
  • November 1913 - In the direction of Swann (fr. Du côté de chez Swann).
  • 1919 - Under the canopy of girls in bloom (fr. À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs)
  • 1921 - 1922 - At the Guermantes (fr. Le côté de Guermantes I et II)
  • 1922-1923 - Sodom and Gomorrah (fr. Sodome et Gomorrhe I et II)
  • 1925 - Captive (fr. La prisonnière)
  • 1927 - Fugitive (fr. Albertine disparue)
  • 1927 - Time Regained (fr. Le Temps retrouvé)

Data

• The 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), which is a record amount for a manuscript of French literature.
• In 1999 two largest networks bookstores France conducted a survey among its customers to identify 50 the best works XX century. At number 2 in this list was the novel In Search of Lost Time (in the first place is the novel The Outsider by Albert Camus).
• A crater on Mercury is named after Proust.
• 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 invite to their programs famous people, at the end of the meetings they were asked questions from this questionnaire. In Russia, Vladimir Pozner continues this tradition in the Pozner program.
• The writer was a connoisseur of music. On July 1, 1907, Marcel Proust organized dinner party and a concert. He himself chose the musical program from his favorite miniatures for piano (and violin and piano), it included works by composers of the era of romanticism and classicism: Fauré, Chopin, Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann and Emmanuel Chabrier. François Couperin's Les Barricades Mystérieuses (The Mysterious Barricades) was the only baroque work.

Modernism is the origin of late XIX- the beginning of the 20th century, a direction in art. It also affected the architecture and art, but modernism manifested itself most clearly in the literature of that time. Besides Marcel Proust, prominent representatives this direction are such writers as Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and others.

The main features of modernism in literature are deep reflections and experiences. Important role plays not external environment and circumstances, but rather inner world and personality of the characters.

Biography of Marcel Proust: origin and early years

The future writer was born in Paris on July 10, 1871. His full birth name is Valentin Louis Georges Eugene Marcel Proust.

The Proust family was quite rich and famous, so in childhood Marcel did not have to experience any hardships, the boy did not need anything, he was surrounded by the care of his parents. Father Adrian Proust had the honorary profession of a doctor (specialty - pathologist), was talented and successful, served as a professor at the Faculty of Medicine.

About the mother of Marcel Proust, modern scientists do not know much. It is known that she was from the family of a Jewish stockbroker.

Up to 9 years future writer lived happily and carefree. In 1880, the boy became seriously ill: he began to develop rapidly bronchial asthma. Later, the disease would become chronic and would be Proust's lifelong pursuer.

Education

According to the traditions of that time, at the age of 11, Marcel entered the Lyceum in Condorcet. During his studies, he became friends with Jacques Bizet ( only son Georges Bizet - French composer who wrote worldwide famous opera"Carmen").

After graduating from the Lyceum, Proust entered the Sorbonne at the Faculty of Law, but the training was not interesting for him, so the future writer decided to leave him. In many ways, the decision was influenced by the fact that at that time Proust visited art salons, talked with young journalists and popular French writers. Favorite places were the salons of Mrs. Strauss, de Caiave and Madame Lemaire. All this he considered fascinating, in contrast to university studies.

The first experience in literature and creativity

Unlike many other writers, Marcel Proust did not start with short stories, plays and novellas. One of the first works was the novel "Jean Santey", which Proust wrote after returning from the army, from 1895 to 1899, but never finished.

Despite this, the writer continued to improve his talent and soon published a collection of short stories Joys and Days. After receiving negative reviews from Jean Lorrain, Proust challenged the critics to a duel, from which he emerged victorious.

In 1903, a misfortune occurred in the family: Proust's father died, and his mother died two years later. For these reasons, as well as due to rapidly progressing asthma, during these years the writer led a reclusive lifestyle, almost did not communicate with people, and was mainly engaged in translations of works by foreign writers. His main interest was English literature.

In addition to translations, in 1907 work began on Marcel Proust's semi-autobiographical novel In Search of Lost Time, which later became the most famous work writer. The idea came to Proust at the beginning literary career- similar scenes, characters and motifs were found in his drafts for "Jean Santey", but took on a clear form only after many years.

Despite the fact that Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time is currently considered the most ingenious work, the writer could not find a publisher for publication for a long time. The novel had to be rewritten and shortened.

In Search of Lost Time is a series of seven books published between 1913 and 1927, even after Proust's death from pneumonia in 1922. The novel tells about more than two thousand characters, the prototypes of which were the writer's parents, his acquaintances, as well as famous personalities that time.

Awards and prizes

In 1919, Proust received the Prix Goncourt for the second book in the In Search of Lost Time series, Under the Shade of Girls in Bloom. This caused a major uproar in literary society- many thought that the award was given undeservedly. The excitement around Proust and his work increased the number of admirers of the writer's work several times.

Analysis and criticism of works

The main idea of ​​Marcel Proust's books is the individuality of the human person. The writer seeks to convey the idea that consciousness, and not material objects, are the basis of everything.

For this reason, Proust considers art and creation to be the highest values ​​in life. By nature, the writer was quite closed and uncommunicative, it was creativity that helped him overcome this.

Contemporaries of the writer spoke positively about Proust's style of narration, describing it as "somewhat unclear", "spontaneous" and "sweet". In the twenty-first century, Marcel Proust is considered a classic. His works are included in the list of literature required reading.

Valentin Louis Georges Eugene Marcel Proust

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 Proust's epic, Toward Swann, was released, 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 - from 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, two of the largest French bookstore chains conducted a survey among their customers in order to identify a list of the 50 best works of the 20th century, the novel In Search of Lost Time appeared at number 2 in this list, and 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, is formed public influence on an 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 from the point of view of practical consciousness perception.

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

The 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 Andre 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. Roman has psychological character and carries the last word 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, Doncieres and Venice.

After an unsuccessful marriage to a woman from bad society Swann visited Combray less and less often, but each of his visits was torment for the boy, for 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 happened 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 Leonia in those days when the family spent 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 Francoise - a woman kindest soul, who at the same time knew how to coolly turn the neck of a chicken and survive from the house an objectionable dishwasher to her.

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 eternal image land 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.

All future life Marseille 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 spoke openly 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 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 announced that Bergotte was friends with his daughter, Marcel's heart sank - only 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 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 at the sound of Vinteuil's sonata, real passion. 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 restrain a cry of pain: he could not return to that wonderful time when Odette loved him madly. The obsession passed gradually. Beautiful face 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 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.