A Summer of Proust: Pages 100-150

Another week, another 50 pages. The narrator is still recounting his childhood visits to Combray. In the previous 50 pages we read about the narrator's aunt and her sleeping habits, his know-it-all hipster friend Bloch and his literary tendencies. In this 50 pages, Our little Romeo is in love and the object of his affection is Swann's daughter. There's a bit of a rub, though, and its that he's never met her. He is also in love with Hawthorn's. While walking along a path adjacent to Swann's estate, he sees a pretty pink hawthorn among a whole mess of white hawthorns and to him, this pink flower is a girl in a party dress, decked out for the holiday while everyone around her is in regular clothes. (These visits to Combray were Easter visits to the countryside, so the narrator may have had holidays on the brain.) And, then he sees her, Swann's daughter, and she sees him. She smirks indifferently and they are both called away and he wishes that he'd yelled at her and told her that he hated her so that she would remember him.

After this incident, he makes mistakes so that people will correct him by having to say Swann's name. He gets a secret thrill out of it the way you do when someone mentions in passing the name of your crush. But, he's truly in love with the hawthorns. At one point, he ruins a jacket giving them a hug good bye, much to the displeasure of his mother.

The narrator discusses in these 50 pages his father's relationship with their neighbor Legrandin, who is a snob and does not know it. He also discusses his Great Aunt's visitors and Francoise. His Aunt's maid Francoise is a force of nature and is also clever and manipulative, making life hard for the other staff so that they do not become too attached to her mistress.

Continued on the next page Page 1 — Page 2
Spread the word
Bookmark and Share
Profile image for katharine-donelson

Article Author: Katharine Donelson

Katharine Donelson is a student of Linguistics, Communication and Welsh. She currently lives with her formerly feral cat and spends her time learning Welsh vocabulary, listening to music, watching films, photographing the local scenery and maintaining her blog The Film Noir Experience. …

Visit Katharine Donelson's author pageKatharine Donelson's Blog

Read comments on this article, and add some feedback of your own
  • No image found

Article comments

Add your comment, speak your mind

Personal attacks are NOT allowed.
Please read our comment policy.
Please preview your comment.

blogcritics lists for May 21, 2013

fresh articles Most recent articles site-wide

fresh comments Most recent comments site-wide

most comments Most comments in 24hrs

top writers Most prolific Blogcritics for April

top commenters Most prolific Commenters in 24 hrs