'Jealousy ... is a demon that can't be exorcized, always reincarnated in new forms' The fifth volume of Proust's In Search of Lost Time focuses principally on the protagonist's relationship with Albertine during their cohabitation in Paris. However, The Captive is no conventional love story. Proximity and intimacy breed anxiety and suffering on account of the protagonist's jealousy. His wildly active mind weighs and appraises Albertine's every word. Is she lying to conceal infidelities or past indiscretions, or plotting her departure to indulge in lesbian affairs? The book carries echoes of Swann's affair with Odette narrated in the novel's first volume and offers an anatomy of love as 'mutual torture'. The societal evolution of Belle Époque Paris remains the backcloth to the volume's dramas, as the Verdurins' social rise continues and the Baron de Charlus is unceremoniously brought low in their salon. The Captive is an intense work, unsettling in how it draws us into the protagonist's thoughts and, on occasion, implicates us in his cruelty. Yet it also, insistently, provides glimpses of the promise of art, the possibility it offers to lift us into a dimension beyond the stress and suffering of the here and now. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
| ISBN: | 9780192869319 |
| Publication date: | 12th November 2026 |
| Author: | Marcel Proust |
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press an imprint of OUP OXFORD |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 464 pages |
| Series: | Oxford World's Classics |
| Genres: |
Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000 Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers Classic fiction: general and literary |
'Jealousy ... is a demon that can't be exorcized, always reincarnated in new forms' The fifth volume of Proust's In Search of Lost Time focuses principally on the protagonist's relationship with Albertine during their cohabitation in Paris. However, The Captive is no conventional love story. Proximity and intimacy breed anxiety and suffering on account of the protagonist's jealousy. His wildly active mind weighs and appraises Albertine's every word. Is she lying to conceal infidelities or past indiscretions, or plotting her departure to indulge in lesbian affairs? The book carries echoes of Swann's affair with Odette narrated in the novel's first volume and offers an anatomy of love as 'mutual torture'. The societal evolution of Belle Époque Paris remains the backcloth to the volume's dramas, as the Verdurins' social rise continues and the Baron de Charlus is unceremoniously brought low in their salon. The Captive is an intense work, unsettling in how it draws us into the protagonist's thoughts and, on occasion, implicates us in his cruelty. Yet it also, insistently, provides glimpses of the promise of art, the possibility it offers to lift us into a dimension beyond the stress and suffering of the here and now. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
The Captive features in the following genres: Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000, Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers, Classic fiction: general and literary
The Captive is available in Paperback
The Captive was written by Marcel Proust and published by Oxford University Press an imprint of OUP OXFORD
The Captive has 464 pages
Yes it is part of Oxford World's Classics series
£9.89