"Within a Budding Grove" beautifully examines the complex adolescent relationships that the unnamed young narrator begins to witness all around him, including the first pangs of love and the ardent adolescent desires. But most importantly it explores the unbridgeable gap between childhood innocence and the disappointment of adulthood. The novel was scheduled to be published in 1914 but was delayed by the onset of World War I. When published, the novel was awarded the Prix Goncourt in 1919. ...
First published in 1919, “Within a Budding Grove” is the second novel in the “In Search of Lost Time” series by famed French author Marcel Proust. Originally intended to be published in 1914, but delayed by the onset of World War I, “Within a Budding Grove” was awarded the Prix Goncourt in 1919 and instantly catapulted Proust to international fame. The novel follows the narrator from the first volume, “Swann’s Way”, from childhood to adolescence. He grows bored with Swann’s daughter, Gilberte,...
