In The Guermantes Way Proust describes his attraction (non-physical) to the handsome Saint-Loup, and his military colleagues. This is different than his previous accounts of acquaintances and friendships to males, and his obsessions with females. He writes that Saint-Loup’s attraction to him is intense while not really physical.
While the scene at Doncières in The Guermantes Way subtly touches upon fluidity, performance, and hidden desires, literary critics generally interpret this dynamic as an exploration of male homoeroticism and sublimated sexuality rather than a hint about Marcel’s gender identity.
To understand how Proust handles this moment, it helps to distinguish between the biographical author (Marcel Proust), the fictional narrator (Marcel), and the character Robert de Saint-Loup.
1. Intimacy, Plato, and “Pure” Friendship
In The Guermantes Way, the narrator’s idealization of Saint-Loup and his military companions presents a shift in tone. Marcel describes a deep emotional devotion that feels intense yet distinctly “non-physical.”
R. S. Martin
Proust models this dynamic heavily on classical Platonic friendship (particularly ideas from Plato’s Symposium). In classical philosophy, the highest form of affection between men is non-corporeal—a shared devotion to virtue, intellect, or military duty that transcends physical appetite. The narrator attempts to frame his attraction to Saint-Loup within this elevated, aesthetic, and intellectual space.
2. The Unconscious Homoerotic Undercurrent
While the narrator insists the connection is purely platonic, Proust layers the scene with intense irony.
R. S. Martin
- The Irony of Saint-Loup: Saint-Loup’s tender, overly protective care for the frail narrator—such as adjusting his cloak or shielding him from the draft—is framed as chivalric affection. However, later in the novel (Sodom and Gomorrah and Time Regained), Saint-Loup’s repressed homosexuality is fully revealed. The non-physical intensity Marcel perceives in Saint-Loup is actually Saint-Loup’s sublimated homosexual desire, which he is attempting to control or mask through chivalric devotion. R. S. Martin
- The Narrator’s Naïveté: The narrator often acts as a blind observer to homosexual dynamics around him before he learns to recognize them. His fascination with Saint-Loup and the soldiers reflects an aesthetic and homoerotic fascination that Marcel himself does not yet fully acknowledge or understand.
3. “Inversion” vs. Gender Identity
When discussing gender in Proust, scholars focus on his concept of “inversion”—a late 19th-century sexological framework (pioneered by figures like Karl Heinrich Ulrichs and Richard von Krafft-Ebing) that viewed homosexuality as a “woman’s soul trapped in a man’s body” (or vice versa).
Philo on Books – WordPress.com
- Sexual Inversion: In the next volume, Sodom and Gomorrah, Proust explicitly introduces the theory of the homme-femme (man-woman), using it to explain characters like the Baron de Charlus.
- The Narrator’s Identity: While the narrator occasionally reflects on these ideas when observing others, he consistently positions himself as a heterosexual observer who is obsessed with women (such as Gilberte, the Duchesse de Guermantes, and Albertine). Philo on Books – WordPress.com
Rather than signaling that Marcel the narrator questions his own gender identity, Proust uses the non-physical intensity between Marcel and Saint-Loup to illustrate how desire, affection, and repression operate. It demonstrates how male bonding in elite or military settings often walks a fine, boundary-blurring line between aesthetic idealization, intense friendship, and unspoken homoeroticism.
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