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.

Main Characters

• The narrator. In the last volume, the narrator addresses the reader, to say "If it is accepted that the author and the main character of this book are one and the same, then my name is Marcel, but this is not necessarily true."
• Charlus: an aristocratic and decadent aesthete
• Swann: a gentleman and friend of Marcel's family
• Odette de Crécy: a Paris courtesan
• Françoise: the narrator's maid
• Duchesse de Guermantes (Oriane): the queen of the pinnacle of Paris high society, the neighbourhood of Faubourg St. Germain
• Albertine: the love of Marcel's life
• Gilberte: the girl Marcel has a crush on as a boy; the daughter of Swann and Odette, and in time the wife of Robert de Saint-Loup, thus joining "Swann's way" and "the Guermantes way."
• Mme Verdurin: a poseur who through inheritance, marriage, and single-mindedness rises to the top of society
• Morel: a turbulent violinist who gets Charlus to be his patron
• Robert de Saint-Loup: Marcel's best friend, scion of an excellently pedigreed aristocratic family, and army officer