Oct 24, 2024 10:44 AM
My first time reading Proust. Swann in Love is part 3 out of 4 of Swann's Way, which itself is volume 1 out of 7 of In Search of Lost Time. I am about halfway through. The story is about (spoiler but minor one) a man of high society, Swann, who usually goes for curvy broads but falls in love with a skinny prostitute, Odette, after seeing in her a similarity to a Botticelli painting. It contains various RS-approved themes: waif representation, dunking on lowbrow art, male BPD behaviour, etc.
Raitz's translation produces longer phrases than I am used to reading but the prose is beautiful and the universality of the book's themes makes it startlingly modern. I like how deeply and intensely interior the narration of Swann's feelings are. A book for lovers!
Don't worry about not having read the other volumes/parts of In Search of Lost Time, Swann in Love works well as a standalone read.