… Proust II …
Albertine Regained, the second in Classic Stage’s Proust Project, isn’t as compelling as Swann in Love (reviewed directly above) because, though well acted, it’s not as good a story. Motivations are unclear: why on earth is Albertine, a young girl on a holiday with her friends at the beach, so drawn to the lethargic, “thin armed” Marcel? especially since she has an eager, suitable and equally wealthy suitor right at hand, Bloch. He may not be sufficiently sensitive for her taste but Marcel isn’t characterized as having any competitive advantage on his side. And Marcel’s way of “loving” Albertine, confining her in a stuffy house, and not making love to her, is so equivocal that it’s hard to see it as “love” in the romantic and passionate sense the characters use the word.
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