FROM THE AGE of eleven until he was eighteen Proust attended
the Lycée Condorcet. He was a good student and he often won
honors, but he was apparently kept at home so much by ill health
that his progress was somewhat irregular. In 1884, for example, he
was behind, and in 1887 he was behind again; but in some way or
other he managed to make up lost ground.

His associations at the lycée were at first far from happy. He
was ill at ease with the other boys, who seemed to him insensitive
and rude, difficult to approach and even more difficult to under-
stand. When he showed his good will by flattering them or writing
sonnets on their beauty or promising eternal fidelity, their response
was usually disconcerting. One boy, whose hand he seized in a
moment of impulsive ardor, shrank away in fear; others drove him
off with insults or threatened to give him a thrashing.

He could not be sure why they disliked him; the boys them-
selves could not be quite sure. But, for one thing, he was too
girlish for their taste--too polite, too tender, too effusive, and too

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