Combray’s humiliated piano teacher, canonized after his death: the novel demotes the man and then exalts the artist.
M. Vinteuil is the shy music teacher of Combray, ruined in the town’s esteem by his daughter’s scandal, deferring to people who were once beneath him and dying broken. The novel then reveals, through Swann’s meditation on the sonata and at last through the septet in La Prisonnière, that this man was a supreme artist. His scenes on this page are few, and they trace one of the sharpest reversals in the cast: lowest in Combray, highest in the chapters where his music is heard. His standing and belonging are barely staged. The readings measure a reputation that arrives entirely after the person is gone.
15 compared passages · 19 distinct opponents
Last comparison: Le Temps retrouvé — II. M. de Charlus pendant la guerre, ¶1–5
15 appearing passages; 37 pair comparisons; 11.54 total comparison weight. Counts describe evidence, not independent observations.
Not assessed: outside the original reference set. This does not imply stability.
3 compared passages · 5 distinct opponents
Last comparison: La Prisonnière, ¶301–305
15 appearing passages; 6 pair comparisons; 1.46 total comparison weight. Counts describe evidence, not independent observations.
Not assessed: outside the original reference set. This does not imply stability.
2 compared passages · 2 distinct opponents
Last comparison: La Prisonnière, ¶371–375
15 appearing passages; 2 pair comparisons; 0.29 total comparison weight. Counts describe evidence, not independent observations.
Not assessed: outside the original reference set. This does not imply stability.
How the passages involving M. Vinteuil leave them, from Combray to the Bal de têtes. 1500 is even; higher is better.
Hover the chart for the level at any point. The band is ± one standard deviation; faint dots are single passages (linked), which swing further than the line and are clipped to the chart.
Biggest rise: 468 points, from Combray to La Prisonnière.
Smoothed with later evidence. Compare within one lens at matching narrative positions—not across lenses or different endpoint dates. Lines connect fitted nodes and do not assert observations between them.
1500 is a scale reference, not an assigned score for unrated characters. The vertical scale adapts to this selection. Single observations are shown as points, not hidden.
| Passage | Score | Local annotation |
|---|---|---|
| Du Côté de Chez Swann — I. Combray, ¶241–245 | 1551.5 | negative |
| Du Côté de Chez Swann — I. Combray, ¶306–310 | 1552.1 | negative |
| Du Côté de Chez Swann — I. Combray, ¶321–325 | 1552.3 | positive |
| Du Côté de Chez Swann — I. Combray, ¶331–335 | 1552.4 | negative |
| Du Côté de Chez Swann — I. Combray, ¶336–340 | 1552.5 | negative |
| Du Côté de Chez Swann — I. Combray, ¶341–345 | 1552.6 | positive |
| Du Côté de Chez Swann — II. Un amour de Swann, ¶91–95 | 1553.9 | negative |
| Du Côté de Chez Swann — II. Un amour de Swann, ¶96–100 | 1554.0 | mixed |
| Du Côté de Chez Swann — II. Un amour de Swann, ¶531–535 | 1560.9 | positive |
| Le Côté de Guermantes — II, ¶651–655 | 1581.7 | neutral |
| La Prisonnière, ¶301–305 | 1589.0 | neutral |
| La Prisonnière, ¶306–310 | 1589.1 | positive |
| La Prisonnière, ¶361–365 | 1589.3 | positive |
| La Prisonnière, ¶371–375 | 1589.2 | neutral |
| Le Temps retrouvé — II. M. de Charlus pendant la guerre, ¶1–5 | 1588.9 | neutral |
Passage descriptions come from the fixed annotations. They describe local readings, not guaranteed causes of a rating change.