ABSTRACT
Many first-time readers of Proust will be amazed at the conviction and the insight with which the novel represents the thoughts, feelings and languages of its very considerable array of characters. The subtlety and precision of this representation of so many and such diverse characters, so richly and delicately nuanced, is one of the principal wonders of the novel. The friendship develops fitfully and with Albertine reluctant to introduce Marcel to the rest of the little band, though he gets to meet Andree, who later emerges as crucial in the novel. But Jacqueline Rose’s novel Albertine goes out of its way to invent a scene in which Albertine meets Andree for the first time at the start of her lycee years. In the Proust they’ve clearly known each other for years before the action of this part of the novel which means that, for Rose, Albertine must be at least 18.
