After reading Proust’s Swann’s Way and, more specifically, the two parts of Combray, I can clearly state that this text was incredibly confusing to me. I believe that the confusion that was present in my mind was due to how the lines between reality and fantasy seem to be blurred for the main character and are therefore blurred for me as well as I was reading the text. The blurring of these lines is based on the construction of a literary dream world and the main character’s interest in literary characters. More specifically how at the start of the text, there are mentions of the world of dreams. Such as how, in the world of dreams, Proust refers to how, while sleeping, it is easier to go to “a period of my early life that had ended forever,” (Combray1. p4). In this, the author seems to want the readers to appreciate the impact that dreams can have on a child and an adult. The dreams, in this case, are a means to escape from being an adult and reflect a simpler time. The concept of dreams is later referred to as “the world of dreams,” which struck me as odd since dreams could or could not be a literary world in itself (Combray1. p4). The main character’s dreams also comment on human memory as his dreams are specifically images that please the main character, rather than the vast possibilities that dreams could be. Nevertheless, the construction of this world reflects the childlike curiosity that the main character has and how that childlike curiosity allowed for the lines of fantasy and reality to be blurred through dreams. 

As I was reading the text, due to my background knowledge, when the text mentioned the names of fictional characters such as; “Bluebeard,” and “Golo,” my attention moved to the mentions of those names (Combray1. p10). Then, as the text continued, the two parts reflected that the author had a specific interest in literacy and literary figures. The author constructs a literary world in which, through the use of dreams and interest in literary characters, the author is able to reflect the childlike curiosity that the main character has, which sparks a passion for writing. The question that I would ask regarding the text is; how does the construction of a literary world through dreams relate to the notion of modernism, and how does this impact the way that the text is read? The two aspects of dreams and the mention of literary figures shape the text to reflect the author’s affinity for both writing literature and an affinity for the moments of childhood that the author had taken for granted.

Muskan Shukla