Sodom and Gomorrah: First Half

In this entry I will address “Part One” and “Part Two: Chapter One” of Volume IV, Sodom and Gomorrah because Part One is so short. As I mentioned in previous entries, Sodom and Gomorrah was a relief to read after the strain of The Guermantes Way. Also, I feel that Sodom and Gomorrah was more important than its predecessor to the overarching plot of the Search, or at least the important plots involving Marcel’s relationships with Albertine and the Guermantes. Overall, Sodom and Gomorrah picked up where the end of The Guermantes Way left off, with the allusions of darkness and secrecy that lay behind the aristocratic life, and the volume then, in the second half, moves on to project this secrecy on the personal relationship between Marcel and Albertine.
“Part One” of Sodom and Gomorrah opens with the authorial persona addressing the reader like Trollope or Henry James. This narrative disruption is interesting; it is the first disturbance of such kind in the novel. This makes me wonder just why Proust decided to break the narrative so; perhaps he wanted to distance himself from the sensitive subject of homosexuality, or of sexuality in general. Whatever the reason, Sodom and Gomorrah plunges into the sexuality that lurked on the fringes of the previous volumes of the Search, and “Part One” makes an intense starting point. Proust’s likening of human and plant sexuality in the opening scene is brilliant; I would consider using the first part of Sodom and Gomorrah in teaching an English class an example of excellent prose and imagery. Nevertheless, the awe-striking revelation that Marcel has was not shared by me, for I saw it coming; perhaps I shouldn’t have read so much about the book before reading it. Even so, the way that Marcel describes and approaches Charlus and, for that matter, everyone in the book is radically different. This incident in “Part One” is therefore quite important to Marcel’s attitude in the rest of the novel, particularly in The Captive, which I am now reading. “Part One” of Sodom and Gomorrah also makes an interesting read.
“Part One” is immediately followed by “Part Two: Chapter One,” which shows how differently Marcel sees the world after his revelation. The party at the Princess de Guermantes’ is in many ways similar to the social events from Volume III, but there is one distinct difference: Marcel’s attitude throughout. Marcel seems in fact quite jaded at how superficial most of the people at the party are. Much of this attitude, of course, developed over the course of The Guermantes Way, but some of it also must surely come from the incident with Charlus. This sort of view affects Marcel’s perception of Swann with the Princess de Guermantes, and also dealings with the Duc and Duchess de Guermantes. Interestingly, this kind of skepticism seems to make Marcel more successful in the social world; this could imply that such cynicism is shared by many of the superior socialites. Marcel’s change from “Part One” is also reflected in his trip to Balbec in “Part Two: Chapter One” and his dealings with Saint-Loup. In many ways I saw “Part Two: Chapter One” of Sodom and Gomorrah as a sort of Guermantes Way revisited, with everything seeming different because of Marcel’s new perspective.
In the rest of Sodom and Gomorrah, Marcel applies his newfound suspicion to personal relations, particularly those with Albertine. Again, I like the more personal interactions more than the social aristocratic ones, so I like the second half of Sodom and Gomorrah more than the first. Nevertheless, this section was enjoyable and, once again, beautifully written.