Swann's Way: Swann in Love: Pepé Le Pew: 10/09/09
I'm on my 15th week of reading Swann's Way (Du côté de chez Swann). I'm up to page 450.

The focus of Swann's Way has turned again to Charles Swann and his growing obsession with Odette. He switches between chasing her and fleeing from her. When Odette wants him, he has his doubts. When she doesn't he chases after her (with limited success).

All of this back and forth and chasing brings to mind another besmitten French lover, Pepé Le Pew. The amorous but love deprived skunk first appeared in the short "Odor-able Kitty" in 1945. He typically pursues a black cat who has had the misfortune of having a white stripe painted down the top of her body. She flees from Pepé because of his stench and his stalking.

In Swann's Way Swann and Odette don't have the problem of being a skunk and cat but they do seem just as incompatible for their own reasons. Just as Swann mostly chases after Odette, sometimes the gag gets reversed in the Pepé Le Pew cartoons and the cat takes up the chase. Pepé ends up just as befuddled being the prey as Swann does when Odette changes her mind.

For more on Pepé Le Pew, please see the Wikipedia article and for more on his creator, please check out Chuck Redux, run by the late animator's family.

Previous posts: Lisa's First Word, Baby Mine, I Sing the Body Electric, The Lady in Pink, Bleeding Gums Murphy, Caturday, Cherry Blossoms, Marge Simpson, Liana Telfer, Bender in Love, Margaret Dumont, Hyacinth Bucket, Rose, Mildred Krebs.

books | fiction | Marcel Proust | 1913

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