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Sodome et Gomorrhe
À la recherche du temps perdu, Tome 4
892 pages
A microscopic, devastating dissection of high-society hypocrisy and the agonizing paranoia of hidden desires.
What it feels like
Reading this volume feels like wandering through a glittering, opulent ballroom where every mirror reflects a hidden, darker truth. The narrative moves at a famously meandering pace, inviting you to sink into its labyrinthine sentences and microscopic observations of human behavior. It is both a biting, comic satire of a decaying aristocracy and a deeply claustrophobic plunge into the agonies of sexual jealousy. The atmosphere is thick with paranoia, unspoken desires, and the suffocating weight of social performance. As the narrator's gaze shifts from the grand salons of Paris to the intimate, agonizing doubts of his own heart, the experience becomes profoundly immersive. It will delight patient readers who crave psychological depth, exquisite prose, and a ruthless, melancholic examination of love and society.
- Mood
- decadent
- claustrophobic
- opulent
- obsessive
- Tone
- satirical
- analytical
- melancholic
- lucid
- unforgiving
- Pace
- meandering
- Themes
- destructive jealousy · social hypocrisy · hidden desires · the decay of aristocracy · fluidity of identity
- The writing
- Labyrinthine and exquisitely detailed, the sentences cascade in long, introspective waves that map the microscopic shifts of human consciousness.
- The arc
- The journey shifts from a glittering, satirical observation of elite society into the suffocating, paranoid depths of romantic obsession.
- Who it's for
- Patient readers who savor immersive psychological realism and delight in the ruthless dissection of social climbing and romantic paranoia.
Content notes
- obsessive jealousy
- emotional manipulation
- historical homophobia
About the book
"John Sturrock's new translation of Sodom and Gomorrah will introduce a new generation of American readers to the literary riches of Marcel Proust. the fourth volume in this edition of In Search of Lost Time - the first completely new translation of Proust's masterpiece since the 1920s - brings us a more comic and lucid prose than English readers have previously been able to enjoy." "Sodom and Gomorrah takes up for the first time the theme of homosexual love - male and female - and dwells on how destructive sexual jealousy can be for those who suffer it. Proust's novel is also an unforgiving analysis of both the decadent high society of Paris and the rise of a philistine bourgeoisie that is on the way to supplanting it. Characters who had lesser roles earlier now reappear in a different light and take center stage, notably Albertine, with whom the narrator believes he is in love, and the insanely haughty Baron de Charlus."--BOOK JACKET.
Description from Open Library.
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