Publisher's Synopsis
As one reads through Proust's famously long sentences, one comes to the conclusion that this volume is the least polished of the bunch. --- Marcel is shocked and possibly heartbroken when Albertine, Marcel's true prisoner, returns to Tansonville at the end of The Captive. There is no time in this volume when it begins. Marcel deals with Albertine's bravado by becoming even more obsessed with her homosexual tendencies. He kept her hostage in the first place, not because he loved her, but because he was obsessed with keeping her from having affairs with other women.If the reader thinks Marcel is a little crazy, he can be forgiven. Regardless, he sends his long-time friend Robert de Saint-Loup to convince Albertine to return. Marcel, on the other hand, is oblivious to the irrational aspects of his fascination. Marcel, almost unexpectedly, takes in a young girl during this period. He bounces her around on his knee and maybe fondles her more. For his conduct, he is prosecuted and given a stern talking-to by a magistrate who only demands that Marcel be a little more discreet.
