Albertine

Albertine appears in this discussion not through a narrated life story but as an example in an argument about love, possession, and the unequal value attached to a woman’s presence and absence. When she is present and docile, she seems insipid to her lover; at a distance, she becomes mysterious again, and jealousy renews his appreciation of her. Her significance lies in this reversal: distance restores the allure that intimacy and compliance have diminished.

Presence and Absence

The account presents Albertine’s changing value from the lover’s perspective. Her nearness and docility make her seem ordinary, while separation makes her seem enigmatic. The change does not establish a transformation in Albertine herself; it exposes how the lover’s estimate of her depends on whether she is immediately available or beyond his possession.

Jealousy and the Return of Allure

Albertine’s absence is part of a broader pattern in which a woman’s renewed independence or desirability to other men can reawaken a blasé lover’s interest. The discussion treats this maneuver as precarious: flirting may restore a woman’s prestige, but it can also expose the imbalance in the relationship or provoke the lover to turn away. Albertine therefore illustrates both the temporary power of distance and the risks of trying to recover freedom within a possessive attachment.

Narrative and Critical Significance

The passage identifies Albertine as an Albert, but explicitly says that this does not change the interpretation: Proust’s attitude remains masculine. The example is thus less a claim about Albertine’s independent motives than a critique of the gaze through which her value is measured. She is made mysterious when absent and diminished when present, revealing how the lover’s desire can treat a woman as an object whose appeal rises and falls with her availability.