In Search of Lost Time · Character

Jupien

A tailor whose vestibule adjoins the narrator's Paris home, and whose discreet dealings with the Baron de Charlus open onto a hidden world beneath respectable surfaces.

supporting

Also known as M. Jupien, Jupien

First appearance: Cities of the Plain

As a supporting figure in In Search of Lost Time, Jupien is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

Jupien is involved in a secret encounter with Charlus, highlighting the theme of sexuality and secrecy.

In the storyCities of the PlainOpen this moment free

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Jupien is a tradesman of modest manner but considerable shrewdness, whose shop and later household place him at the crossroads of the Guermantes quarter's visible and invisible lives. His connection with Charlus, at first a matter of business and patronage, deepens into something more intimate and more complicated, exposing the gap between public propriety and private arrangement. For the narrator he becomes an unwitting guide to the secret geography of Paris, where a tailor's doorway can lead somewhere the drawing-room never admits.

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See Jupien in Cities of the Plain

Character Web

27 connections

A slice of how Jupien sits in the book — open the reader for the full interactive map.

Relationship types

Other

Character groups

Extended society and minor characters
Narrator's social and romantic circles
Aristocratic and artistic connections

+22 more in the full Character Web

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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book.

Setup
Escalation
Breaking point
Aftermath
Closing

This is the story's dramatic climax because it marks the psychological rupture where the narrator’s intellectu…

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In the story

Jupien appears across 3 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

Cities of the Plain
Jupien is involved in a secret encounter with Charlus, highlighting the theme of sexuality and secrecy.
Prologue
Jupien is the object of Charlus's attention; their encounter is described as a natural and inevitable meeting.
A Fresh Light Upon Robert de Saint-Loup
His niece, Mademoiselle d'Oloron, marries into the Cambremer family; the marriage brings connections to many noble families.

Chapter companion notes

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See Jupien in Cities of the Plain