Swann's Way: In Search of Lost Time, Volume One

Odette’s apparent disinterest in Swann is accompanied by the Verdurins ostracizing him. They try to separate Swann from Odette so that she can spend more time with Forcheville. On one occasion, the Verdurins whisper about a social event in front of Swann, even though he has not been invited. He notes their tactless comments and labels the “sublime in their smugness” (203).

Swann realizes that the Verdurins have always been against him. He quietly seethes about the “perfect specimens of their disgusting class” (205) and decides that they have been practically selling Odette to Forcheville. Swann resolves to extricate himself from the social circle, believing that he has been debasing himself by associating with such people, even though he was a devoted friend to the Verdurins just half a day earlier. He confronts Odette that evening. He criticizes her for her amateurish, childish tastes, remarking that she has not grown or matured in the time that they have known each other. He claims that she is in thrall to those “contemptible creatures” (206), the Verdurins, and that she does everything they ask of her. When she says that she is attending a play that evening in the company of the Verdurins, Swann begs her to stay with him. He tells her that his opinion of her will be drastically diminished if she goes with the Verdurins. Odette does not understand what Swann wants. She runs away, worried that she will be late.

Even after Odette runs away, Swann continues to love her. When she leaves for a country vacation with the Verdurins, Swann obsesses over what to do. She returns to Paris and goes straight home without giving “him a thought” (210). Swann’s jealousy is so intense that he studies Odette’s life and measures the time she spends with him and the time she spends with others. One evening, he asks her not to dismiss him so soon. He wants to stay with her and have a drink together. As he asks, however, he imagines Forcheville sitting in the same chair, drinking the same drink. To him, this now seems like Odette’s real world. The realization depresses him.

Odette writes a letter to Swann. He is organizing a Wagner concert, and she asks for permission to invite the Verdurins, even though she is “incapable of distinguishing between Bach and Clapisson” (214). In the letter, Odette hints that the Verdurins do not want to see him. The passive-aggressive letter makes Swann angry. He tells himself that his love for Odette is finished. After just a few days, however, he cannot stop thinking about her. He remembers the version of Odette that he once loved, and his jealousy stirs his affection for her once again. He pities her and loves her at the same time; he loves her, even if he rarely even thinks about her beauty any longer. Swann is never quite able to abandon his affection for Odette. The idea of Odette is so central to his life and so entwined with every part of his existence that he cannot conceive of abandoning her other than through his death. The dysfunctional nature of this love is apparent to Swann, but he can do nothing about how he feels.

Swann hatches a plan to win back Odette. He asks the Baron de Charlus, his friend, to visit Odette and speak highly of Swann. Next, he asks his friend to manipulate Odette into extending an invitation to her house to Swann. However, Charlus does not prove to be successful. Swann even asks Marcel’s uncle Adolphe to speak to Odette about him. Later, however, Swann discovers that he betrayed Swann and tried to seduce Odette, then “tried to take her by assault” (222). Swann disavows Adolphe. He is left alone with his thoughts, especially those concerning the potentially scandalous nature of Odette’s youth. He cannot stop thinking about Odette, deliberately ignoring her many flaws and the ways she has acted against him. Instead, he cherishes an idealized version of her. Even as he hears rumors about Odette’s new lovers, he does not stop thinking about her. He becomes more jealous as he obsesses over her, though he is relieved when he hears that she is spending time with Charlus as he considers him not to be a threat.

Swann suffers so much that he soon begins to fall in love with his suffering, associating his pain with his love for Odette. Swann is invited to a fashionable charity concert, and he attends with Charlus. At the ball, he studies the distinguished guests. He enjoys himself by reintegrating into high society. However, his companions later note that he still seems unhappy. As he is preparing to leave the party, Swann hears the sonata by Vinteuil, and he is reminded all over again of his anguish and his love. He pities himself, realizing that “the feeling which Odette had once had for him would never revive” (250). At times, his pain and his love are so intense that he wishes Odette would die in an accident. He quickly becomes ashamed of himself, however, and regrets his thoughts.

Someone sends an anonymous letter to Swann telling him that Odette betrayed him many times. The author lists the men with whom Odette was unfaithful. The list includes Forcheville and other guests from the Verdurins’ salon. Swann wonders whether the letter was sent by Charlus. Instead, he convinces himself that the letter was sent by someone who wished to ruin Odette’s reputation with rumors that she “abandoned herself to orgies with other women” (254). Swann decides to confront Odette about the letter. When she insists that it is untrue, he realizes “that it was quite possibly true” (256). Odette confesses to betraying him “perhaps two or three times” (257). Swann continues to quiz Odette about these details. He learns about her tragic past: at a young age, her mother “sold” her to a man from England (260). Odette has also had homosexual relationships as well as heterosexual relationships with the men listed in the letter. On the first night Odette had sex with Swann, she admits, she had spent the earlier part of the evening with Forcheville.

Swann is taken aback by Odette’s confessions, but his thoughts still linger with her over the ensuing weeks. He goes to parties and brothels to try to forget her. Whenever he thinks that he can move on, he remembers her love and begins to fall for her again. One day, Swann talks to one of the other guests from the Verdurins’ salon. The friend tells him how often and how affectionately Odette talks about him, and he is astonished. Swann rarely sees Odette, as she is traveling in Egypt with Forcheville, the Verdurins, and others. Stories about Odette reach him, but increasingly rarely. As he spends less time thinking about her, his love for her finally begins to fade. One day, Swann is finally able to say that he no longer loves Odette. The realization feels to him like he is waking from a dream and realizing that he has wasted many years loving a woman who did not love him as he loved her.