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.