MARCEL PROUST - IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME
By: Fereshteh Priou
January 2018
One of the most striking characters in Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time is Odette de Crécy, a woman of dubious reputation who seduces Charles Swann, a wealthy and well-connected aesthete with close ties to the highest levels of French aristocracy. After a long, tormented love affair marked by jealousy, obsession, and painful fascination—and partly because she was pregnant—Swann marries her. In doing so, he effectively exiles himself from the aristocratic circles he once moved in effortlessly.
Their daughter, Gilberte, eventually marries Robert de Saint-Loup of the illustrious Guermantes family, one of the most prestigious aristocratic lineages in the novel. Odette’s remarkable social ascent thus symbolizes the erosion of traditional class barriers and the gradual dissolution of the old social order at the turn of the twentieth century. At the same time, the narrator’s recurring reference to her as a courtesan reveals how French society viewed ambitious women who dared to cross the rigid lines separating their class from the elite.
Historically, a courtesan was originally a cultivated companion at royal courts—often a confidante to the king. Beyond intrigue and political maneuvering, these women were typically well-educated, independent, and accomplished in art, music, literature, and conversation. Many became the king’s lovers, with the most favored known as “la Favorite.” The word “courtship” itself derives from this role. Some courtesans were married to compliant husbands who benefited from the king’s favor and were often sent to distant posts to maintain discretion.
After the fall of the monarchy, the term “courtesan” took on a more pejorative meaning, loosely applied to high-class prostitutes or kept women. It became a convenient label to tarnish ambitious, independent women who rose through relationships with powerful men despite lacking aristocratic bloodlines.
Odette begins as a poor but clever, strikingly beautiful, and highly ambitious young woman. When she first meets Swann, it is at the salon of Mme Verdurin, a nouveau riche hostess eager to build her own social circle in Paris. Odette’s options were limited: a modest job as a shop girl or marriage within her own social station. Neither appealed to her. Instead, she set her sights on influential men who frequented the Verdurins’ gatherings. Rumormongers even whispered that she had an amorous relationship with Mme Verdurin herself to secure her position there.
At first, Swann pays Odette almost no attention. But she patiently adapts to his every whim, making herself a constant, soothing presence. He grows so accustomed to seeing her every evening that when he arrives at the Verdurins’ one night and finds her absent, he is overcome with anxiety and despondency. Through the power of habit, she successfully ensnares him. Charles Swann—a member of the exclusive Jockey Club and a friend of the Prince of Wales—finds himself utterly at the mercy of Odette de Crécy, a mere courtesan. Years later, even after marrying her, Swann wonders why he did so, admitting she was never really “his type.”
The violent upheaval of class hierarchy during the French Revolution continued more subtly but relentlessly at the turn of the twentieth century. Swann’s complete surrender to Odette represents the aristocracy’s gradual capitulation to new social forces. Through Proust’s lens, we see how familiarity and habit can breed a powerful attachment—one capable of moving not only individuals but entire societies.
Article by: Fereshteh Priou - January 2018