What begins as a meditation on the fictional identity of the elegant 'swan' of Proust's ""In Search of Lost Time"" becomes, through a series of turns and twists, an ingenious investigation of the character's real-life counterpart, Charles Haas. Through an inspired reading of Proust's text, Henri Raczymow gradually unravels the multiple contradictions of Charles Swann's personality, brought into focus by the fault lines in Proust's narrative method. Part novel, part essay, part literary sleuthing, ""Swan's Way"" is a critical tour de force that leads the reader ever deeper into the unresolved question of literary and personal character.