Swann’s Way

This self-contained opening volume of Proust's seven-volume masterpiece REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST introduces the important themes of the novel: childhood, memory, love both idealized and unrequited, and the narrator's fascination with society and the aristocracy. The narrator's childhood memories include the famous madeleine scene, and the destructive love affair between Swann and Odette. The musician Vinteuil's evocative little phrase is also introduced in this volume, which also describes Marcel's awareness of the two ways, the paths that intersect the village of Combray where he lives: the Guermantes Way, leading to the house of an aristocratic family, and Swann's Way, leading to the less exalted, more literary home of Swann, who is a family friend.