The idiotic fascination with nobility is difficult for American readers to understand : Proust

As we finish the Combray section of Marcel Proust's "Swann's Way" (Lydia Davis, tr.) Marcel takes his first excursion on the Geurmantes Way - and we immediately sense the difference between Geurmantes and Swann's (or the Meseglise) Way - G is longer, more meandering, along the banks of the Vivonne (is that the real name of the river?) and most important has evocations of the nobility and the aristocratic heritage of the Geurmantes family - leading Marcel to reflect on the first time he actually saw the Duchess de Geurmantes, staring at her in church - she does not seem to be very attractive, at least not in M's description, red-faced etc. - but he sees in her the connection to her aristocratic ancestors - this a classic example of how we "read into" faces what we know or think we know of their history - no doubt if she had not been pointed out to him as a Geurmantes she would look just like anyone else in town and could just as easily have been the aunt of the family servant, Francoise. This fascination with noble blood and heritage is a European vestige that is very hard for American readers to understand, much less identify with or sympathize with. Kind of idiotic, really, that her lineage should be so important and defining as to who she is today - but this is a theme that Proust will explore further throughout In Search of Lost Time (I will go with Davis's more accurate translation of the title) - as he ultimately has Marcel see the utter corruption of the so-called nobility and become increasingly disillusioned.