num_pages: 714
description: Swann's Way tells two related stories, the first of which revolves around Marcel, a younger version of the narrator, and his experiences in, and memories of, the French town Combray. Inspired by the "gusts of memory" that rise up within him as he dips a Madeleine into hot tea, the narrator discusses his fear of going to bed at night. He is a creature of habit and dislikes waking up in the middle of the night not knowing where he is.He claims that people are defined by the objects that surround them and must piece together their identities bit by bit each time they wake up. The young Marcel is so nervous about sleeping alone that he looks forward to his mother's goodnight kisses, but also dreads them as a sign of an impending sleepless night. One night, when Charles Swann, a friend of his grandparents, is visiting, his mother cannot come kiss him goodnight. He stays up until Swann leaves and looks so sad and pitiful that even his disciplinarian father encourages "Mamma" to spend the night in Marcel's room.
language: German
title: Unterwegs zu Swan
titlecomplete: Unterwegs zu Swan
characters: Cottard, Gilberte Swann, Baron de Charlus, Narrator/Marcel, Mme Swann, Odette de Crécy, Françoise de Combray, Charles Swann, Madame Verdurin
genres: Novels, Literary Fiction, Classic Literature, France, French Literature, Philosophy, Fiction, Literature, Unfinished, 20th Century
ratings_count: 58270
places: Paris, Combray, France
series: À la recherche du temps perdu
awards: awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: French-American Foundation Translation Prize
category: Fiction, awardedAt: 978336000000
name: Премія «Сковорода»
publisher: Suhrkamp