In Search of Lost Time

In Search of Lost Time (a translation of the original À la recherche du temps perdu) is a 3,000+ page novel in seven books (recently published in six volumes), by French writer Marcel Proust, originally published between 1913 and 1927.

Introduction

Proust's early writing helped prepare him to write his epic. Two unfinished novels that he worked on in the twenty years prior to focussing on In Search of Lost Time contain many of the ideas and even scenes that would be further developed in Proust's long novel. Proust worked on Jean Santeuil from 1896 to 1899 and although the narrative method is quite different, it contains several scenes that are revived in In Search of Lost Time. Contre Sainte-Beuve, an unfinished fragment finally published in 1957, provided Proust with many of the philosophical ideas that he explored throughout his larger novel. Proust worked on Contre Sainte-Beuve from 1908 until he put it aside to start work on In Search of Lost Time around 1910.

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Early in the first volume, the narrator's memories of childhood are triggered by his tasting a petite madeleine (a type of small sponge cake) dipped in tea. This is probably the novel's best-known scene, explored at great length by critics, and petite madeleine or madeleine has since taken on a metaphorical usage in daily language.

Related Topics:
Madeleine - Sponge cake

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The story is about how the story came to be written. That is to say, young Marcel dreams of being a writer — he is so sickly that he is not pushed to seek any kind of career, let alone strenuous work — but finds himself wallowing in distractions, such as social life, pursuing women, etc. His process of maturation takes him through highs and lows as he tries with various degrees of effort to complete something publishable, yearning of following in the footsteps of his idol, the novelist Bergotte.

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