Swann In Love

A stand-alone novella from Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time highlighting love’s transformative force and the trap lying beneath: the insidious reach of jealousy.

Charles Swann is a man about town with friends in high places. At Parisian society gatherings hosted by the wealthy Verdurin couple, he meets the intriguing Odette de Crécy. Though struck by how different they are, Swann’s feelings for Odette deepen. As the Verdurin circle expands, he is overcome by doubts and unhealthy jealousies. Odette distances herself, and Swann is convinced he has a rival for her affections. Behaving erratically and tortured by spiralling thoughts, Swann’s love becomes a sickly poison.

This edition of Swann in Love is translated by C. K. Scott Moncrieff with an introduction by Marion Schmid.

Author Biography

Born in Paris in 1871, Marcel Proust is widely regarded as one of the twentieth century’s most influential authors. His life’s work, the novel In Search of Lost Time, was published in seven volumes between 1913 and 1927. Although he lived out his last years in almost complete isolation, writing by night and resting by day, as a younger man Proust was a well-connected socialite, moving in the very circles depicted in his writings. His refined and introspective prose explores the power and limitations of memory and emotion. Despite having to finance the first volume of In Search of Lost Time himself, Proust left an indelible mark on world literature. He died in 1922.