The first volume of Proust's seven-part novel «In Search of Lost Time,» also known as «A Remembrance of Things Past,» «Swann's Way» is the auspicious beginning of Proust's most prominent work. A mature, unnamed man recalls the details of his commonplace, idyllic existence as a sensitive and intuitive boy in Combray. For a time, the story is narrated through his younger mind in beautiful, almost dream-like prose. In a subsequent section of the volume, the narrator tells of the...
The first volume of Proust’s seven-part novel “In Search of Lost Time,” also known as “A Remembrance of Things Past,” “Swann’s Way” is the auspicious beginning of Proust’s most prominent work. A mature, unnamed man recalls the details of his commonplace, idyllic existence as a sensitive and intuitive boy in Combray. For a time, the story is narrated through his younger mind in beautiful, almost dream-like prose. In a subsequent section of the volume, the narrator tells of the excruciating...
The unnamed adult protagonist has stepped into the dazzling Parisian society of 19th century where fashionable salons, gossips and appearances run galore. Amidst all of this, his own puzzling feelings for Mme. de Guermantes simultaneously become an obsession to overpower her as well as an acute insight into the minds of the upper classes. Can the unnamed protagonist grow above his contempt for Mme. de Guermantes' superficial nature and find his «true» love or is it another futile attempt –...
This modern classic minutely dwells into the nature of worn out relationships between couples, when love is replaced by boredom and at times indifference. It beautifully comments upon this haunting aspect of love, where couples fall out of love all the time and yet they don't have courage to break free… "At daybreak, my face still turned to the wall, and before I had seen above the big inner curtains what tone the first streaks of light assumed, I could already tell what sort of day...
What happens when the person whom we had once loved and fallen out of love with suddenly goes away? In The Sweet Cheat Gone the unnamed narrator must come to terms with this hard truth that people who leave rarely come back… "Mademoiselle Albertine has gone!" How much farther does anguish penetrate in psychology than psychology itself! A moment ago, as I lay analysing my feelings, I had supposed that this separation without a final meeting was precisely what I wished, and, as I compared...
After the war has ended the unnamed protagonist goes back to Paris and meets the people he once knew before, but time has never stopped for anyone, especially for humans. The journey now grows more expansive and seeks writing as the answer to the perennial question of how do we defy death. This beautiful novel will absorb you wholly and make you wish that it may never come to a finish. "Tansonville seemed little more than a place to rest in between two walks or a refuge during a shower....
