by Marcel Proust; D. J. Enright; Joanna Kilmartin; Andreas Mayor; Terence Kilmartin
ALBON, Old M. d’. Smiles at a remark by Mme de Guermantes: VI 4.
ALIX, the “Marie-Antoinette of the Quai Malaquais,” one of the “three Parcae;” at Mme de Villeparisis’s reception: III 260–70.
AMBASSADRESS, Turkish. At the Guermantes’: III 732–40), why she irritates M: IV 80–81; her social utility: 82.
AMBRESAC, M., Mme and Mesdemoiselles d’. At Balbec; related to Mme de Villeparisis, despised by Albertine; Saint-Loup engaged to one of the girls?: II 633–36 (cf. III 37). Mme d’Ambresac at the Opéra: III 43–44. Saint-Loup denies the engagement rumour: 133–34. Competition for the hand of Daisy d’Ambresac: 553–54. Saint-Loup talks to her at the Princesse de Guermantes’ reception: IV 133.
AMONCOURT, Mme Timoléon d’. Offers the Duchesse de Guermantes some Ibsen manuscripts; her wit, beauty and obligingness: IV 89–91.
ANDRÉE. The eldest of the “little band” of girls at Balbec, the “tall one.” Jumps over the old banker: II 508 (cf. 631). Plays golf: 625–27. Introduced to M by Albertine: 631. Complexity of her character; lies to M; quarrels with Gisèle: 636–40. In the Casino; her sympathetic disposition; her friendship with Albertine: 646–49. Her comments on Gisèle’s essay: 670–75. Her hands; the game of “ferret”: 680–81. M’s doubts as to her kindness: 687–88. M pretends to prefer her to Albertine; her jealousy: 692–94. Her mother and Albertine: 703–6. M finds her a neurotic, sickly intellectual like himself: 714. “A camellia in the night”: 717. Dances with Albertine in the Casino at Incarville: IV 263–66. Expresses abhorrence of Sapphic behaviour: 272–73. Her tender ways with Albertine: 274–75. M pretends to be in love with her: 308, 311–14. She and Albertine avoid each other: 326. M prefers her to Albertine: 699–700. Albertine’s chaperone in Paris: V 12, 15, 20–21. The syringa incident: 63–65. Intensification of her defects; denounces Octave; M’s suspicions of her: 69–74 (cf. 128, 943–44). Her voice on the telephone: 124–27. Albertine murmurs her name while asleep: 144. Her lies dovetail with Albertine’s: 233–34, 298, 448–49. Her secret life with Albertine: 523–28. M quarrels with Albertine over her: 534–36. M invites her to come and live with him after Albertine’s departure: 632–33, 643–44. M jealous of her: 717–18. Visits M after Albertine’s death; admits to her own Sapphic tastes but denies having had illicit relations with Albertine: 735–41. Her second visit: 805–28; confesses her relations with Albertine; new version of the syringa incident: 809–15; her defamatory remarks about Octave, whom she later marries: 816–18; her explanation of Albertine’s departure: 821–28. Third visit to M; further revelations about Albertine and a new explanation for the latter’s departure (a plan to marry Octave): 830–33, 838–39. During the war, now married to Octave, remains M’s friend: VI 5. Her friendship with Gilberte: 432–33.
ANDRÉE’S mother. Mentioned by Albertine at Balbec: II 632, 704. Her social position and attitude to Albertine: 703–6. Her hair: 717. Her “horses, carriages, pictures”: V 12.
ANTOINE, the Guermantes’ butler. Françoise’s opinion of him and his “Antoinesse”: III 21; his arrogant air: 27; his anti-Dreyfusism: 402–3.
ARCHIVIST, encountered chez Mme de Villeparisis: See Vallenères.
ARGENCOURT, Comte d’, later Marquis d’. Belgian Chargé d’Affaires in Paris. At Mme de Villeparisis’s reception: III 284–88, 300–301; speaks of Maeterlinck’s Seven Princesses: 308–10, 336–37; his anti-semitism: 316; his rudeness to Bloch: 329–33. Meets M and Charlus in the street; Charlus’s opinion of him: 395–97. “A terrible snob”: 613. At Mme Verdurins musical soirée; his changed attitude to Charlus: V 362–63. During the war, arrested and released: VI 6. After the war, at the Guermantes reception, has become an amiable old dotard: 338–44.
ARGENCOURT, Dowager Comtesse d’ (née Seineport), mother of the above. Bluestocking hostess: III 613.
ARPAJON, Vicomtesse or Comtesse d’. At the Guermantes dinner-party (one of the “flower maidens”): III 586–87. Mistress of the Duke: 656, 660. Conversation with M about the archives in her château: 669. Her opinion of Flaubert: 670–71, and of Victor Hugo: 673–76. Quotes Musset for Hugo: 680. Ridiculed by Mme de Guermantes: 680, 684. Addressed by the latter as “Phili”: 691. At the Princesse de Guermantes’s, declines to introduce M to the Prince: IV 67–70. Jealous of Mme Surgisle-Duc, who has succeeded her in the Duke’s affections: 70. Drenched by the Hubert Robert fountain: 77–78. Cultivates Odette: 199–201. Her brilliant tea-parties: 542. Doubts the existence of M. Verdurin: V 363. In her old age, seems at once unknown and familiar: VI 7. Her death discussed at the Guermantes reception: 422–25.
AUBERJON, Duchesse Gisèle d’. Summoned by Mme de Villeparisis to help with her theatricals: III 289.
AYEN, Duchesse Jane d’. Charlus deplores the conversation at her house: V 413.
BABAL. See Bréauté-Consalvi.
BALLEROY, Mme de. Great-aunt of a niece of Mme de Guermantes: V 250.
BASIN. See Guermantes, Basin, Duc de.
BARRISTER (see Blandais), president of the Cherbourg bar. Staying at the Grand Hotel, Balbec: II 346–47. Entertains the Cambremers to lunch: 361–63. Orders trout from Aimé: 366. Irritated by Mme Blandais: 382. Visits Féterne: 388. M learns of his death: IV 205.
BAVENO, Marquise de. Comments on Oriane’s “Teaser Augustus” pun: III638.
BEAUSERFEUIL, General de. Overhears Swann’s Jewish witticism at the Guermantes’ reception: IV 132. The Prince de Guermantes consults him about Dreyfus: 143, 146–47. (See Monserfeuil: it is clear that the two names apply interchangeably to the same general.)
BEAUSERGENT, Marquis de (Mme d’Argencourt’s brother). In Mme de Cambremer’s box at the Opéra: III 65–66. At the final Guermantes party, now an aged colonel: VI 8.
BEAUTREILLIS, General de. At the Guermantes dinner party: III 674. His anti-Dreyfusism: 681.
BELLOEUVRE, Gilbert de. Young golfer at Balbec, remembered by M: V 821.
BERGOTTE. Distinguished writer recommended to M by Bloch, who lends him one of his books: I 124. His style, and its effect on M: 129–34. Swann speaks of him; an admirer of Berma: 135. A great friend of Gilberte: 137–38, 192. His booklet on Racine presented to M by Gilberte: 572, 582–83. Quotations from this concerning Phèdre: II 18. Norpois’s unfavourable opinion of him—“a deliquescent mandarin”: 60–65 (cf. III 299). Luncheon party at the Swanns’; the man with the goatee beard and snail-shell nose and the gentle bard with the snowy locks: 164–83. His voice and style; “Bergottisms;” his family: 168–77. Vices of the man and morality of the writer: 178–83. Speaks of Berma and Racine: 185–85. His opinion of Norpois: 186–87. Favourably impressed by M; they leave together; his medical advice and malicious remarks about Cottard and the Swanns: 196–200. M’s parents change their opinion of him: 201–4, 209–13. Sought after by Mme Verdurin: 239. M receives a letter from him at Balbec: 400. Charlus lends M one of his books: 472. M. Bloch’s opinion of him: 477–83. Legrandin’s opinion of him—“gamy stuff for the jaded palates of refined voluptuaries”: III 203. Admired by the Duchesse de Guermantes: 283–84, 299. Dr du Boulbon speaks of him to M’s grandmother: 409, 415. His visits to M during his grandmother’s illness; his own illness, his increasing fame, his indifference to the new: 442–47. Reputed to have written a satirical one-act play about the Prince de Guermantes: IV 101–2, 138. Mme Swann’s salon crystallises round him: 194–97. Reported to be seriously ill: 503. M still reads him: V 65–66, 728–29. His death; “the little patch of yellow wall”: 238–46. His instinctive attraction towards inferior women: 281. Charlus visits him on behalf of Morel: 289–90. M gives Albertine one of his manuscripts: 483. His one-time belief in table-turning: 713. His reaction to the Figaro article in M’s dream: 799. His influence on Morel’s style: VI 9. M’s eventual disillusionment with his books: 286. The intricacy of his style now out of fashion: 295. The role he had played in M’s love for Gilberte: 443.
BERMA. Her rank as an actress: I 102. Admired by Bergotte: 135, 137. M’s desire to see her perform: 559, 572. Her performance in
Phèdre: II 10–11; M’s disappointment: 20–29. Norpois’s opinion of her: 36–38. “What a great artist!”: 72. M buys a photograph of her; her face and her loves: 80–83. Bergotte’s opinion of her: 183–85. Swann’s view: 193. M sees her again in Phèdre; an interpretation “quickened by genius”: III 39, 49–67. Rachel’s patronising comments: 221–22. Françoise compared to her in histrionic virtuosity: IV 182. Gives a party in honour of her daughter and son-in-law; their selfishness and cruelty; failure of the party: VI 10. Rachel’s malicious remarks about her: 477. Her daughter and son-in-law beg Rachel to receive them: 478–79. Rachel’s cruel disclosure of this proves a mortal blow to her: 479–80.
BERNARD, Nissim. Rich great-uncle of Bloch. At dinner chez the Blochs at Balbec; the family butt; his lies: II 482–86; but he really did know M. de Marsantes: III 374–75. Grows mannered and precious with advancing age: 393. His relations with a young waiter at the Grand Hotel: IV 327–31, 337, and with the tomato-faced waiters at the “Cherry Orchard”: 342–44. Allusion to his death (?): 682. Incurs Morel’s enmity by lending him five thousand francs: V 62 63. Leaves money to the young waiter from the Grand Hotel, now manager of a restaurant: VI 11.
BERTHE. Friend of Albertine: V 738.
BIBI. Friend of the Prince de Foix, announces his engagement to Daisy d’Ambresac: III 553–54.
BICHE (“Master”). See Elstir.
BLANDAIS (see Barrister), M. Notary from Le Mans on holiday at Balbec: II 345–48, 362–63, 383, 463.
BLANDAIS, Mme. Wife of the above: II 348–49. Impressed by M. de Cambremer: 356. Annoys the president: 382–83. Not invited to the Cambremers’ at Féterne: 388, 462. M tells a funny story about her: III 132.
BLATIN, Mme. Apparent friend of Gilberte; reads the Journal des Débats in the Champs-Elysées: I 565–66. Her affectation: 576–77. M’s mother’s poor opinion of her: 587–88. Mme Swann dreads her visits: II 110. Resembles a portrait of Savonarola: 147. “Me nigger; you old cow!”: 149.
BLOCH, Albert. Schoolfriend of M’s. Recommends Bergotte to him; despises Racine and Musset, admires Leconte de Lisle: I 124. His neo-Homeric jargon: 124–25 (see also II 442–47, 478, 484–88; III 328; IV 319, 682). Antagonises M’s family: 107–10. His likeness, according to Swann, to Gentile Bellini’s portrait of Sultan Mahomet II: 115. Unwittingly helps M to gain access to the Swanns: II 102. Greets Mme Swann in the Bois; she mistakes his name: 159 (cf. 489). Alters M’s notions about women, and takes him to a brothel: 205–8, 396–97. His affectation of anti-semitism: 433 (cf. 445–46). His absurdity, his snobbery; his family; his ill breeding: 434–37, 442–48. M and Saint-Loup dine with him and his family: 474–89. His gaffe about Charlus: 488–89. Claims to have had carnal relations with Odette: 489. Sees Saint-Loup off at the station; his tactlessness: 609–11. Albertine’s antipathy to him: 627–29. His Dreyfusism: III 134 (see also 402–3). Dislike of Stendhal: 136. At Mme de Villeparisis’s reception, now a rising dramatist: 252–336. His exotic Jewishness: 253–55. Knocks over a glass of water: 289. His ambivalent remarks about Saint-Loup: 292–93 (cf. 306–7). His rudeness: 293–96. Introduced to Norpois: 296–98; discusses the Dreyfus Case with him: 313–16, 323–33. Snubbed by M. d’Argencourt and the Duc de Châtellerault: 333–34. Takes leave of Mme de Villeparisis, who feigns sleep: 335–36. His friendliness towards Saint-Loup, who invites him to dinner: 373 (cf. 546). Charlus’s interest in him: 389–91. Snubbed by Charlus on being introduced to him by M: 523–24. Regular meetings with his Jewish friends to discuss the Zola trial in the restaurant where M and Saint-Loup dine one foggy night: 547–49. Behaviour on being introduced to Mme Alphonse de Rothschild: 693. His petition on behalf of Colonel Picquart: IV 152–53. His fondness for authentic Greek spelling: 319. Pretends not to recognise his sister: 337–38. Offended by M’s reluctance to leave the little train to meet his father: 682–86. Charlus questions M about him: 686–92. Calls on M in Paris, without knowing that Albertine is in the house: V 1–2. Arranges a loan for Morel and thereby incurs his enmity: 62–63. Sends M a photograph of his cousin Esther Levy: 105–7, 140, 461. His taste in furniture: 229–30. Charlus wants to invite him to his house: 282–83. A poet “in my idle moments”: 285–86. Fails to recognise Albertine dressed as a man: 450. Visits M after Albertine’s departure and incurs his anger: 596–97. Ignores M’s Figaro article: 797–98. His noisy ostentation and pretentiousness in a Balbec restaurant: 925–26. During the war, chauvinistic before being passed fit for service, thereafter anti-militarist; “at once coward and braggart”: VI 12. Marries one of his daughters to a Catholic: 192. Bored by society novels: 277. After the war, M recognises him in spite of his having aged: 347–48. His cult of his dead father: 353–54. Has adopted the name Jacques du Rozier; his English chic; his physical transformation: 384–85. Questions M about society figures of the past: 385–88. His own position in society; his fame as a writer: 392–93, 403–9. His new discretion: 411. Refuses Berma’s invitation: 450. Compliments Rachel: 460–61. His interest in M. de Bréauté: 468–72. Steals M’s ideas for articles: 510.
BLOCH, M. Salomon, father of the above. Impressed by his son’s acquaintanceship with Saint-Loup: II 447. His stereoscope: 448. M and Saint-Loup dine with him; his preposterous stories; his opinion of Bergotte; his avarice: 474–87. His admiration for Lea: 660. Impressed by Sir Rufus Israels: III 293. Charlus declines to be introduced to him; greets Mme Sazerat: 332. His post-chaise with postilions: IV 682. His Stock Exchange connexions: VI 13. Dies of grief during the war: 347.
BLOCH’S cousin. See Levy, Esther.
BLOCH’S sisters. At Balbec, introduced to M: II 434–35. Their admiration for their brother: 435, and imitation of his jargon: 477–78, 482. Their vulgarity: 459–60. One of them, with her cousin, attracts Albertine’s attention in the Casino at Balbec: IV 272–74, and causes a scandal in the Grand Hotel by her behaviour with an ex-actress: 326–27, 337–38.
BONTEMPS, M. Albertine’s uncle. Chief Secretary to the Minister of Public Works: II 114–16. Dines with the Swanns: 128–30. At an official dinner with M’s father: 277. Supports Albertine but anxious to be rid of her: 703. Considered somewhat “shady”: 703, and a political opportunist: 705. Once a counsellor in Vienna: IV 708. A “lukewarm” Dreyfusard: V 316. His election committee: 594. Chauvinist and militarist during the war, his Dreyfusism forgotten: VI 14. Mme Verdurin’s telephone conversations with him: 61–63.