After David Shields talk last night, tonight I went to the ballet with my mother. It was Swan Lake, so famous and yet so easy to miss seeing live. I opened the playbook as we sat down and was immediately struck by the reminder that the Swan Queen is named Odette!

I can’t help but assume that Proust sort of did this on purpose. Not only does he name his first female main character Odette, but he names her lover Swann! And sets their entire romance to music. And makes the description of Odette de Crecy sound like that of a ballet dancer.

So what are the differences? They exist mostly in character, while the similarities lie in the plot. These differences are mostly that the Swan Queen is gentle, kind, vulnerable, and looking for unwavering love to save her from her curse. In ISOLT, Odette is manipulative and adulterous, but appears to Swann to be more like the Odette in the ballet.

The similarities are in the plot. In the books, Swann falls in love with Odette because she is intriguing. Similarly, the Prince falls for the Swan Queen because she is different from the princesses he is supposed to marry but doesn’t like. In ISOLT, Odette has two sides to her as well, like Odette (the gentle Swan Queen) and Odile (the manipulative double who works for the evil sorcerer). Their romance revolves around the musical phrase, like the Prince and the Swan Queen dancing out the story of their love. And in the end, it seems like they are torn apart, only to find themselves back together later in worse circumstances (depending on the ending of the ballet).

In ISOLT, Odette is literally the Swan Queen. She is the ballerina figure who manipulates her way to become the Queen of M. Swann’s heart.

Oh the irony.