Maya Slater writes:

I readily accept that a novel such as Proust's can and does provide the analyst with fascinating insights not only into the mind of the characters, but also into that of the author. But when a work of fiction such as Proust's 'introspective' novel presents us with the illusion that the writer and the main character are one and the same, it is vital to remember that this is a narrative convention and not an absolute truth, and to acknowledge that this is so. Proust's personality differs from that of the hero of his novel in a huge number of important respects. To name only a few, the fictional character is a heterosexual, womanising Catholic with no sense of vocation, as different as possible from the homosexual, half-Jewish Proust, who was committed to a writing career from his teens. Proust warned us of this, describing his hero as 'a character whom I call "I", and who is not me'. This statement should surely be taken into consideration when the novel is scrutinised for its revelations.