Prologue explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Sexuality and Secrecy

  The chapter reveals the hidden homosexual relationship between Charlus and Jupien, exploring the secrecy and societal condemnation surrounding such desires.

• Identity and Self

  The narrator reflects on the nature of inversion, the struggle for self-acceptance, and the formation of identity in the face of societal norms.

• Desire and Illusion

  The encounter between Charlus and Jupien is depicted as a natural, almost fated event, highlighting the power of desire and the illusions that surround it.

Characters to notice

• Marcel

  The narrator observes the encounter between Charlus and Jupien from a hidden vantage point, reflecting on the nature of inversion.

• Baron de Charlus

  Charlus is seen crossing the courtyard and later meeting Jupien, revealing his homosexual inclinations.

• Jupien

  Jupien is the object of Charlus's attention; their encounter is described as a natural and inevitable meeting.

• Françoise

  Françoise comments on the relationship between Charlus and Jupien, expressing approval and comparing their natures.

• Marcel's Mother

  The narrator's mother gently chides Françoise for her remarks about Jupien and Charlus.

• Marquise de Villeparisis

  Mentioned as the person Charlus was originally planning to visit before the encounter with Jupien.

Key passages

• “I had, as I have said, left the marvellous point of vantage, so snugly contrived for me at the top of the house, commanding the broken and irregular slopes leading up to the Hôtel de Bréquigny, and gaily decorated in the Italian manner by the rose-pink campanile of the Marquis de Frécourt's stables.”

  The narrator had abandoned his high perch overlooking the picturesque slopes and stables to wait on the staircase.

  The narrator sets the scene, describing his shift in observation point.

• “I could hear distinctly, as he got ready to go out, Jupien who could not detect me behind my blind, where I stood perfectly still until the moment when I drew quickly aside in order not to be seen by M. de Charlus, who, on his way to call upon Mme. de Villeparisis, was slowly crossing the courtyard, a pursy figure, aged by the strong light, his hair visibly grey.”

  The narrator hides behind a blind, watching Jupien prepare to leave and then seeing Charlus cross the courtyard.

  The narrator's hidden observation of Charlus and Jupien begins.

• “I knew that this expectancy was no more passive than in the male flower, whose stamens had spontaneously curved so that the insect might more easily receive their offering; similarly the female flower that stood here, if the insect came, would coquettishly arch her styles; and, to be more effectively penetrated by him, would imperceptibly advance, like a hypocritical but ardent damsel, to meet”

  The narrator compares the anticipation of the meeting between Charlus and Jupien to the natural process of pollination in flowers.

  The botanical metaphor underscores the inevitability and naturalness of the encounter.

• “For the two angels who were posted at the gates of Sodom to learn whether its inhabitants (according to Genesis) had indeed done all the things the report of which had ascended to the Eternal Throne must have been, and of this one can only be glad, exceedingly ill chosen by the Lord, Who ought not to have entrusted the task to any but a Sodomite.”

  The narrator suggests that the biblical angels sent to Sodom were poorly chosen; a Sodomite would have been more lenient.

  The narrator uses biblical allusion to comment on the nature of judgment and hypocrisy.