HOME View All Genre

Book

Audiobook

GENRES 🌙 Dark

In Search of Lost Time - Marcel Proust

By Marcel Proust

Release Date: 2023-06-08

Genre: Fiction & Literature

(0 ratings)
Read Download
Through seven volumes, the narrator of In Search of Lost Time recounts his memories as they occur to him. An innocuous treat—say, a small cake paired with a cup of tea—may awaken memories buried deep within the narrator’s mind; memories cause more memories to surface. Like the cathedral builders of old, a whole life and the world around it are thus formed anew, slowly and methodically, by uniting pieces of the narrator’s life for the sake of the reader.

This recollection takes us through the narrator’s childhood, weaving the social web his family finds itself entangled in, his first crush and coming of age, his gradual appreciation of art while finding his place into society, his hurtful obsession over a young woman, and, ultimately, the consolation that what had been lost in his youth can be regained.

Firmly grounded in Modernism, In Search of Lost Time is not a work about memories but memory. By leading the reader in circles, sometimes on a glorious wild goose chase, Proust holds a mirror in front of the reader, sending us back to our own memories and experiences, no matter how pleasant or uncomfortable. By its very nature, it’s a difficult exercise about one of the defining features of humanity: our ability to manipulate time by recalling and, often, recreating it.

C. K. Scott Moncrieff’s English translation is as highly regarded as the novel itself. Moncrieff used Remembrance of Things Past as the title, which was not a translation of the French title but a quote from a Shakespearean sonnet; this edition uses the translated title that the work is best known by in English. Just as Proust passed away before finalizing the last three volumes, so Moncrieff passed away before completing his translation; the final volume was translated by his (and Proust’s) friend Sydney Schiff, under the pseudonym Stephen Hudson.

Only the first five translated volumes are currently available in the public domain. The remaining two will be added to this edition after their copyrights expire over the next two years.

In Search of Lost Time - Marcel Proust

By Marcel Proust

Release Date: 2023-06-08

Genre: Fiction & Literature

(0 ratings)
Read Download
Through seven volumes, the narrator of In Search of Lost Time recounts his memories as they occur to him. An innocuous treat—say, a small cake paired with a cup of tea—may awaken memories buried deep within the narrator’s mind; memories cause more memories to surface. Like the cathedral builders of old, a whole life and the world around it are thus formed anew, slowly and methodically, by uniting pieces of the narrator’s life for the sake of the reader.

This recollection takes us through the narrator’s childhood, weaving the social web his family finds itself entangled in, his first crush and coming of age, his gradual appreciation of art while finding his place into society, his hurtful obsession over a young woman, and, ultimately, the consolation that what had been lost in his youth can be regained.

Firmly grounded in Modernism, In Search of Lost Time is not a work about memories but memory. By leading the reader in circles, sometimes on a glorious wild goose chase, Proust holds a mirror in front of the reader, sending us back to our own memories and experiences, no matter how pleasant or uncomfortable. By its very nature, it’s a difficult exercise about one of the defining features of humanity: our ability to manipulate time by recalling and, often, recreating it.

C. K. Scott Moncrieff’s English translation is as highly regarded as the novel itself. Moncrieff used Remembrance of Things Past as the title, which was not a translation of the French title but a quote from a Shakespearean sonnet; this edition uses the translated title that the work is best known by in English. Just as Proust passed away before finalizing the last three volumes, so Moncrieff passed away before completing his translation; the final volume was translated by his (and Proust’s) friend Sydney Schiff, under the pseudonym Stephen Hudson.

Only the first five translated volumes are currently available in the public domain. The remaining two will be added to this edition after their copyrights expire over the next two years.

More by Marcel Proust

Swann's Way

50 Masterpieces you have to read before you die vol: 2 [newly updated] (Book House Publishing)

50 Masterpieces you have to read before you die vol: 2

In Search of Lost Time [volumes 1 to 7]

100 Eternal Masterpieces of Literature [volume 2]

In Search of Lost Time [Volumes 1 to 7]

In Search of Lost Time [volumes 1 to 7]

Swann's Way

Du cĂ´tĂŠ de chez Swann

Remembrance of Things Past

50 Masterpieces you have to read before you die

180 Masterpieces You Should Read Before You Die (Vol.1)

À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs — Volume 1

In Search of Lost Time, Volume I

The Greatest Classics of All Time

In Search of Lost Time

In Search of Lost Time

The Ultimate Summer Read Collection

Sodome et Gomorrhe—Volume 1

À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs — Volume 2

90 Masterpieces You Must Read (Vol.1)

Le Côté de Guermantes — première partie

À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs — Volume 3

Sodome et Gomorrhe—Volume 2

World's Greatest Classics in One Volume

In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower

150 Classics You Should Read Before You Die

Le Coté de Guermantes — deuxième partie

The Masterpieces of World Literature

The Greatest Classics Ever Written

A la recherche du temps perdu

In Search of Lost Time, Volume II

Le CôtÊ de Guermantes, ­3. Partie

Marcel Proust: Oeuvres complètes

CLASSICS FOR CHRISTMAS

The Guermantes Way

In Search of Lost Time [volumes 1 to 7]

Swann's Way

Remembrance of Things Past, Volume I

A la recherche du temps perdu - Proust

Sodom and Gomorrah

In Search of Lost Time, Volume 5

In Search of Lost Time, Volume III

Swann's Way (Remembrance of Things Past, Volume One)

In Search of Lost Time, Volume VI

CLASSICS FOR SUMMERTIME

In Search Of Lost Time (Complete - All 7 Volumes)

In Search of Lost Time, Volume IV

Within a Budding Grove

The Everlasting Masterpieces of World Literature in One Edition

Related Articles