Swann’s Way is a novel about subjectivity. Marcel, the narrator, loses himself in memories of his subjective experiences to better understand himself. The passage of time and the importance of memories become central to his exploration. Time has ceased to be an objective reality. The more he investigates his memories, the more he realizes that the world is infinitely complex and nuanced. Even something as objective as the length of a day can be experienced differently by different people, depending on their emotional state. This difference fascinates Marcel. The difference is even apparent when he compares the experiences of his youth to those of his present self. His present experience is dictated by his past, meaning that his present self exists only as an accumulation of memories and experiences over time. Identity is a fusion of time and memory, providing the writer with a lifetime of material in which each memory is as important as the next.

For Marcel, Time and Memory exist in tension. The more time passes, the more memories he accrues. The more memories, the more time he spends revisiting them. Marcel’s narration becomes a way to untangle this tension.