• The Captive, Volume II

  • By: Marcel Proust
  • Narrated by: Neville Jason
  • Length: 3 hrs and 56 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (20 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
The Captive, Volume II  By  cover art

The Captive, Volume II

By: Marcel Proust
Narrated by: Neville Jason
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $16.00

Buy for $16.00

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Editorial reviews

Listening to Proust may be the ideal way to experience this great French writer. His prose is exquisite, but so careful in its variation that it benefits greatly from Neville Jason's narration. Jason performs the text, more than narrating it, and his marked changes in tone, pace, and breath make this a pleasure to listen to. Jason also emphasizes the humor of the text, playing up each speaker's verbal tics. Proust's story focuses on desire and art. The desire is examined through character thought and action, the art through the precision of the prose, and through the snippets of period music that are occasionally carefully interwoven with it.

Publisher's summary

In the second part of The Captive the fifth volume of Marcel Proust's monumental, seven volume Remembrance of Things Past, Marcel, pathologically possessive, continues to keep Albertine a virtual captive in his Paris apartment, while the Baron de Charlus, obsessed with the young violinist Charles Morel, receives an unexpected shock. A deeply perceptive study of love and jealousy.
(P)2000 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd.; ©2000 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd.

Love Books? You'll Love Audible.

Placeholder Image Alt Text

Transform your day

Replace endless scrolling with endless listening. Chores can be fun.

Placeholder Image Alt Text

Listen everywhere

Download titles to listen offline, wherever you are in the world.

Placeholder Image Alt Text

Carry your entire Library

Your stories go where you go. Audiobooks don’t weigh a thing.

Placeholder Image Alt Text

Listen and learn

Discover stories that can change your mind, your well-being, and your life.

Placeholder Image Alt Text

Reach your reading goals

You can’t turn pages while you drive—but you can press play.

Placeholder Image Alt Text

Find your niche

WIth thousands of titles to explore, there’s something for everyone.

Try for $0.00 $14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

What listeners say about The Captive, Volume II

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    15
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Quarrels, real and contrived

The Captive is the fifth book of the seven-volume In Search of Lost Time / Rememberances. For audiobook purposes, it is divided into two parts, this being the second. As with this entire series, it is beautifully narrated by Neville Jason.

Albertine remains a captive of sorts. The narrator literally transforms his jealousy into a fine art. Duplicity of speech is the order of the day. In a side show, the Verdurins engineer an extraordinary quarrel between Morel and M. de Charlus, so claiming Morel for themselves.

Proust tends to confine his violence to the verbal variety, and this volume does not lack for cutting speech. However perhaps the phrase that will stick most with the reader, or listener, is a poignant one. The narrator pretends to Albertine that they must and will part forever. She meekly accepts this, and looking around the room in his home, at the pianola, and the blue satin armchairs, she responds, "I still cannot make myself realise that I shall not see all this again, to-morrow, or the next day, or ever. Poor little room. It seems to me quite impossible; I cannot get it into my head." This phrase will come to haunt him.

As I have noted before, Proust is an unhurried author, who delights in ordinary events (and some that are rather out of the ordinary). If you like really wonderful writing, a relaxed pace, and are after a break from a diet of thrillers, you will really like this.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful