Sodom and Gomorrah (Oxford World's Classics)

'the metamorphosis of Monsieur de Charlus into a new person was so complete that... everything which had appeared incoherent to me until then, was becoming intelligible, and self-evident'The fourth volume of Proust's In Search of Lost Time extends the protagonist's journey of discovery into the social world of fin-de-siècle France.As the biblically inflected title, Sodom and Gomorrah, suggests, however, this world has taken on a new colouring.Through a succession of observations--both voyeuristic and overt--Proust's protagonist encounters and begins to appreciate the great diversity of sexual identities and proclivities that underpin human relations.At the heart of this volume that buzzes with chatter, gossip, and position-taking, is the Baron de Charlus, whose relationship with the working-class Charlie Morel is a central preoccupation of the narrative.This volume lays bare the ways in which ambitions and desires are nurtured, projected, masked, and exposed.Suffering, in love, is rare