A sleepless man's memory of a childhood bedtime kiss unfolds into a vast recollection of Combray, and of Swann's own tormented, jealous love for the courtesan Odette. The opening volume of In Search of Lost Time.
Books mentioned in Swann's Way (9)
François le Champi by George Sand: “It contained _La Mare au Diable_, _Francois le Champi_, _La Petite Fadette_, and _Les Maitres Sonneurs_.”
La Mare au Diable by George Sand: “It contained _La Mare au Diable_, _Francois le Champi_, _La Petite Fadette_, and _Les Maitres Sonneurs_.”
La Petite Fadette by George Sand: “It contained _La Mare au Diable_, _Francois le Champi_, _La Petite Fadette_, and _Les Maitres Sonneurs_.”
Les Maîtres Sonneurs by George Sand: “It contained _La Mare au Diable_, _Francois le Champi_, _La Petite Fadette_, and _Les Maitres Sonneurs_.”
Indiana by George Sand: “My grandmother, as I learned afterwards, had at first chosen Mussel's poems, a volume of Rousseau, and _Indiana_; for while she considered light reading as unwholesome as sweets and cakes, she did not reflect that the strong breath of genius must have upon the very soul of a child an influence at…”
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo: “of pine-forests or of hailstorms, of _Notre-Dame de Paris_, of _Athalie_, or of _Phèdre_, by some piece of imagery he would make their beauty explode”
Athalie by Jean Racine: “Whenever he spoke of something whose beauty had until then remained hidden from me, of pine-forests or of hailstorms, of _Notre-Dame de Paris_, of _Athalie_, or of _Phedre_, by some piece of imagery he would make their beauty explode and drench me with its essence.”
Phèdre by Jean Racine: “Whenever he spoke of something whose beauty had until then remained hidden from me, of pine-forests or of hailstorms, of _Notre-Dame de Paris_, of _Athalie_, or of _Phedre_, by some piece of imagery he would make their beauty explode and drench me with its essence.”
Le Cid by Pierre Corneille: “You should insist. Berma in _Phèdre_, in the _Cid_; well, she's only an actress, if you like”
Books that mention Swann's Way (4)
An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine: “She'd read Du côté de chez Swann very early on—the first volume of Hannah's Proust”
A Life's Work by Rachel Cusk: “‘When a man is asleep,’ writes Proust in Swann’s Way, ‘he has in a circle round him the chain of the hours’”
Coventry by Rachel Cusk: “'The past is hidden outside the realm,' writes Proust in Swann's Way”
Normal People by Sally Rooney: “The copy of Swann’s Way she reads at lunchtime in the school cafeteria, with a dark French painting on the cover and a mint-coloured spine.”