Reading Proust - A Running Commentary

 It is now two years after the Gilberte episode and Marcel, aged about 16 or 17, finally gets finally to go to Balbec, accompanied by his grandmother. In Place-Names: The Name, at the end of Swann's Way, Marcel has only the names of desired destinations with which to conjure. But now in the much longer Place-Names: The Place, he experiences one of the destinations of which he has long dreamed. In particular, he has been looking forward to seeing the Persian-influenced church at Balbec and, as ever, he is disappointed by the reality. He has alighted from the train at Balbec-le-Vieux rather than Balbec-Plage and discovers that the church is not next to the sea, which he had romantically imagined lapping at the foot of its walls, but twelve miles away in the inland town's mundane surroundings of a café, an omnibus office, a bank and a pâtisserie. Furthermore, the church's statue of the Virgin appears as a little, wrinkled, old lady (which is discussed in a 357-word sentence – ...

 Having examined Marcel's relationship with Gilberte, I would now like to explore the Swanns' home and social life, which is the other main theme in this section. Before doing that, however, it is necessary to consider the beginning of the section, which opens with Marcel's parents having to dinner an old ambassador, the Marquis de Norpois, who is working with Marcel's father. Prior to the visit, his parents had been pondering the question of whom else to invite and had decided against Swann, who Marcel's father thought had, since his marriage to Odette, become a vulgarian who was forever name-dropping. Meanwhile, on M de Norpois' previous recommendation, Marcel had been earlier that day to see the great actress Berma but when faced with the reality, as we should expect by now, had been disappointed. He remains, however, a devotee of the great author Bergotte. It is an iconoclastic evening for Marcel, for M de Norpois speaks highly of Mme Swann, disparages Bergo...