Section 1: Prologue and Chapter 1 Summary

In the Prologue, it is half past twelve, and all of the the guests have left long ago with only the host, Sergey Nicolayevich and Vladimir Petrovich remaining. The host suggests that each of them tell the story of their first love, starting with Sergey who claims that he began with his second love. When he was eighteen, he courted a girl as though it were nothing new. He loved his nurse when he was six years old, but that is too long ago to remember the details. The host did not fall in love until he met his current wife, Anna Ivanovna, who fell in love immediately even though their marriage was arranged by their fathers. The host relies on the old bachelors and turns to Vladimir. Vladimir's first love was not ordinary, but he would...