List of Characters
This list is adapted from "A Guide to Proust" found in the Modern Library edition of Time Regained.
I acknowledge a debt to Terence Kilmartin, D.J. Enright, and the editors of that edition. Who's Who in Proust is another resource and includes a Guermantes family tree. Spoiler Warning: some of the descriptions below include details revealed late in novel.


  • Lambresac, Duchesse de: at the Princesse de Guermantes' her smile, "instead of taking definite shape in an active affirmation, in a language mute but clear, was drowned almost immediately in a sort of ideal ecstasy which expressed nothing, while her head dropped in a gesture of blissful benediction, recalling that which a slightly senile prelate bestows upon a crowd of communicants"
  • Lavrières, the: rich cousins of Françoise; the "only real people in the book"
  • Lau D'Allemans, Marquis du: an intimate friend of Swann before his marriage; the Duchesse de Guermantes speaks of his informality with the Prince of Wales
  • Laumes [lome], Prince and Princesse des: see Guermantes, Duc and Duchesse de
  • Laundress: Brichot's mistress; Mme Verdurin breaks up their relationship
  • Laundry-girl in Touraine: has relations with Albertine (reported by Aimé
  • Lavatory Attendant: see "Marquise"
  • Lawyer: "eminent barrister from Paris", friend of the Cambremers
  • Léa, Mlle: actress; lives with Bloch's cousin, Esther Lévy; writes a letter to Morel exclaiming "Of course you're one of us, pretty sweetheart"
  • Leblois de Charlus, Comte: confused with the Baron de Charlus in some artistic circles
  • L'Éclin, Mme de: nicknamed "Hungry Belly"
  • Legrandin [luh-grawnh-danh]: engineer and man of letters, brother of Mme de Cambremer
  • Léon, Prince de: brother-in-law of Saint-Loup and nephew of the Duchesse de Guermantes, who tells the anecdote about beige breeches
  • Léonie, Aunt (Madame Octave): bedridden since her husband's death; the Narrator gives some of her furniture to a brothel-keeper
  • Leroi, Mme Blanche: a snob; about love she says, "I make it often but I never talk about it"
  • Leroi-Beaulieu, Anatole (1842-1912): economist and member of the Académie des Sciences morales et politiques; advises the Narrator's father to stand for election to the Institut
  • Létourville, Duchesse de: meets the aged Charlus with the Narrator on the Champs-Elysées and his shocked by the former's appearance
  • Létourville: young, relative of the above; regards the Narrator as an elderly gentleman
  • Lévy, Esther: cousin of Bloch; lives with Léa; she and Bloch's sister attract Albertine's attention in the Casino at Balbec
  • Lift-boy at the Grand Hotel, Balbec: go-between with Albertine; forgets to shut doors; has curious verbal mannerisms
  • Loiseau, Mme: has a house beside the church in Combray; her fuchsias have the bad habit of "letting their branches trail at all times and in all directions"
  • Longpont, Mme Barbe de: star attraction at one of Mme Verdurin's Wednesdays at La Raspelière
  • Loredan: nickname of Swann's coachman; see Rémi
  • Luxembourg, Grand Duke of: formerly Comte de Nassau, nephew of the Princesse de Luxembourg; writes to the Narrator during his grandmother's illness
  • Luxembourg, Princesse de: introduced by Mme de Villeparisis to the grandmother and the Narrator, who writes, "in her anxiety not to appear to be enthroned in a higher sphere than ours, she had probably miscalculated the distance, for by some error in adjustment her eyes became infused with such benevolence that I foresaw that moment when she would put out her hand and stroke us like two lovable beasts who had poked out heads out at her through the bars of our cage in the Zoo"
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Mark Calkins © 2007
Page last updated: June 24, 2004