Read this when
Swann's Way: Swann in Love (Part Two)
When you realise you were in love with the painting, not the person. 🎻
Who it's for
Swann in Love is one of literature's most precise studies of how we build up another person in our heads.
Feelings it meets
What it is
The wealthy, cultured Charles Swann is not at first attracted to Odette de Crécy, but he comes to love her after seeing in her a likeness to a figure in a Botticelli fresco and linking her to a phrase of music he adores. As she grows cooler and more evasive, his love becomes a consuming jealousy, and he spends years tracking, imagining and agonising over her life.
Where to find it
In every edition of Swann's Way (paperback, ebook, audiobook); public domain in French and in early English translation (e.g. Project Gutenberg).
Before you start
Heads up: Possessive jealousy and affairs.
Age: Adult literary fiction (suggested 16+)
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind.William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 1, Scene 1
