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.


  • Sagan, Prince de (1832-1910): greets Odette in the Bois; a friend of Swann's
  • Saint-Candé, M. de: his monocle, "encircled, like Saturn, with an enormous ring, was the center of gravity of a face which adjusted itself constantly in relation to it, a face whose quivering red nose and swollen sarcastic lips endeavored by thier grimaces to keep up with the running fire of wit that sparkled in the polished disc, and saw itself preferred to the most handsome looks in the world by snobbish and depraved young women whom it set dreaming of artificial charms and the refinement of sensual bliss"
  • Saint-Euverte, Marquise de: gives a musical soirée attended by Swann at which Vinteuil's little phrase reminds of the days when Odette loved him
  • Saint-Euverte [sanht’-euh-vairt], Mme de: wife of the great-nephew of the above, née La Rochefoucauld
  • Saint-Ferréol, Mme de: the Duchess de Guermantes proposes to pay her a visit and Saint-Loup pretends not to know her
  • Saint-Fiacre, Vicomtesse de: at the Guermantes matinée prematurely aged from drug addiction
  • Saintine: once "the flower of the Guermantes set," now déclassé through marriage
  • Saint-Joseph, General de: Saint-Loup hopes the Duchess de Guermantes will use her influence with him to get a transfer from Morocco
  • Saint-Loup [sahn-loo’], Marquis de: son of Aynard and Marie de Marsantes, great-nephew of Mme de Villeparisis
  • Saint-Loup, Mlle de: daughter of Robert and Gilberte
  • Saniette: paleographer, socially awkward member of the Verdurin's "little clan"'; Forcheville's brother-in-law
  • Sanilon: surname of Théodore
  • Santois, Bobette: original name of Morel
  • Saumoy Guy: friend of the "little band" at Balbec
  • Saxony, Prince of: is he the young man who joins the Princesse de Guermantes in her box at the Opéra?
  • Saylor: patronym of M. de Crécy
  • Sazerat, Mme: neighbor of the family in Combray
  • Serving-girl: seduced by the Narrator in an inn at Doncières
  • Sherbatoff, Princesse de: a model member of the Verdurin's "faithful"; mistaken by the Narrator for the mistress of a brothel
  • Sidonia, Duke of: Spanish grandee and formidable talker; competes with Charlus at the Princesse de Guermantes
  • Silistrie, Princesse de: calls on the Guermantes to discuss Amanien d'Osmond's illness; seeks to marry her son to Gilberte
  • Simonet [see’-moh-nay]: see Albertine
  • Ski, diminutive of Viradobetski: polish sculptor, friend of the Verdurins
  • Souvré, Marquise de: friend of the Princesse de Parme, but not received by the Duchess de Guermantes
  • Stermaria, Mlle (later Mme, and finally Vicomtesse Alix) de: Saint-Loup meets her in Tangier (divorced after three months of marriage) and arranges for the Narrator to dine with her in Paris; she cancels at the last moment
  • Stermaria, M. de: Breton squire, father of the above
  • Sûreté, Director of the: the Narrator receives a summons from him for having corrupted a little girl
  • Surgis-le-Duc, Marquise or Duchesse de: mistress of the Duc de Guermantes; her statuesque beauty reproduced in her two sons
  • Surgis-le-Duc, Victurnien and Arnulphe de: sons of the above; their "great and dissimilar" beauty derived from their mother
  • Swann, Charles: neighbor in Combray; husband of Odette and father of Gilberte
  • Swann père.: stockbroker, father of above, and close friend of Narrator's grandfather
  • Swann, Mme: see Odette
  • Swann, Gilberte: see Gilberte
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Mark Calkins © 2007
Page last updated: May 25, 2005