A guide to autofiction – 2

Reading lists

A guide to autofiction

FRENCH CLASSICS FEATURED

Where to start with French Classics

A photo collage of Bing Crosby and David Bowie, Mariah Carey, Paul McCartney, Destiny's Child and Wham!, clockwise from top left..

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What book to read, based on your favourite Christmas song

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Features

More than cake: unravelling the mysteries of Proust’s madeleine

The original translation of Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust

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Extracts

Remembrance of Things Past: Volume 1

<a href="https://shop.penguin.co.uk/collections/book-bundles-clothbound-classics/?&amp;utm_source=Penguin.co.uk&amp;utm_medium=Banner&amp;utm_campaign=Penguin_Clothbound_Series_26_06" target="_blank">Buy 3 classics for £33 on the Penguin Shop</a>

One of the greatest translations of all time: Scott Moncrieff's classic version of Proust, published in three stunning clothbound volumes designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith. 
 
Proust's masterpiece is one of the seminal works of the twentieth century, recording its narrator's experiences as he grows up, falls in love and lives through the First World War. A profound reflection on art, time, memory, self and loss, it is often viewed as the definitive modern novel. C. K. Scott Moncrieff's famous translation from the 1920s is today regarded as a classic in its own right and is now available in three volumes in Penguin Classics. 
 
This first volume includes Swann's Way and Within a Budding Grove. 
 
'Scott Moncrieff's [volumes] belong to that special category of translations which are themselves literary masterpieces ... his book is one of those translations, such as the Authorized Version of the Bible itself, which can never be displaced' - A. N. Wilson 
 
 'For the reader wishing to tackle Proust your guide must be C K Scott Moncrieff ... There are some who believe his headily perfumed translation of À la recherche du temps perdu conjures Belle Époque France more vividly even than the original' - Telegraph 
 
 'I was more interested and fascinated by your rendering than by Proust's creation' - Joseph Conrad to Scott Moncrieff

Scott Moncrieff's [volumes] belong to that special category of translations which are themselves literary masterpieces ... his book is one of those translations, such as the Authorized Version of the Bible itself, which can never be displaced

For the reader wishing to tackle Proust your guide must be C K Scott Moncrieff ... There are some who believe his headily perfumed translation of À la recherche du temps perdu conjures Belle Époque France more vividly even than the original

I was more interested and fascinated by your rendering than by Proust's creation

Marcel Proust (Author) 
Proust was born in Auteuil, France in 1871. He began writing his masterpiece, À la recherche du temps perdu, in 1909, and worked on it until his death in 1922, following several years of poor health during which he had been confined to his bedroom. 
 
C. K. Scott Moncrieff (Translator) 
Charles Kenneth Scott Moncrieff was born in Scotland in 1889 and served on the Western Front in the First World War, where he was seriously injured at the Battle of Arras. In 1922, he started work on his famous translation of Proust's novel, taking his English title from Shakespeare's Sonnet 30. He was still translating the novel at the time of his death in Rome in 1930.

Proust's masterpiece is one of the seminal works of the twentieth century, recording its narrator's experiences as he grows up, falls in love and lives through the First World War. A profound reflection on art, time, memory, self and loss, it is often viewed as the definitive modern novel, and C. K. Scott Moncrieff's famous translation from the 1920s is now regarded as a classic in its own right.

Remembrance of Things Past: Volume 2

One of the greatest translations of all time: Scott Moncrieff's classic version of Proust, published in three stunning clothbound volumes designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith. 
 
Proust's masterpiece is one of the seminal works of the twentieth century, recording its narrator's experiences as he grows up, falls in love and lives through the First World War. A profound reflection on art, time, memory, self and loss, it is often viewed as the definitive modern novel. C. K. Scott Moncrieff's famous translation from the 1920s is today regarded as a classic in its own right and is now available in three volumes in Penguin Classics. 
 
'Scott Moncrieff's [volumes] belong to that special category of translations which are themselves literary masterpieces ... his book is one of those translations, such as the Authorized Version of the Bible itself, which can never be displaced' - A. N. Wilson 
 
 'For the reader wishing to tackle Proust your guide must be C K Scott Moncrieff ... There are some who believe his headily perfumed translation of À la recherche du temps perdu conjures Belle Époque France more vividly even than the original' - Telegraph 
 
 'I was more interested and fascinated by your rendering than by Proust's creation' - Joseph Conrad to Scott Moncrieff

Vintage Classics French Series

Swann's Way

My advice is to plunge straight into Volume 1, Swann's Way there are many who swear the experience has permanently enriched their lives

One of the cornerstones of the Western literary canon

Surely the greatest novelist of the 20th century

As close to being a definitive English version of the great novel as we are likely to get

Proust isn't just the most profound of novelists, but the most entertaining, too. No reader ever forgets his most killingly funny scenes... Proust sinks deepest in readers because the book is so exhaustively analytical, so ceaselessly truthful. Not the least of it is the book's heavenly length, so that it inevitably takes over your life for a long stretch... the experience of reading it becomes, in itself, an unforgettable thing

Marcel Proust (Author) 
Marcel Proust was born in Auteuil in 1871. In his twenties he became a conspicuous society figure, frequenting the most fashionable Paris salons of the day. After 1899, however, his suffering from chronic asthma, the death of his parents and his growing disillusionment with humanity caused him to lead an increasingly retired life. He slept by day and worked by night, writing letters and devoting himself to the completion of A la recherche du temps perdu. He died in 1922 before publication of the last three volumes of his great work. 
 
D J Enright (Translator) 
Born in 1920, educated at Leamington College and Downing College, Cambridge, D. J. Enright spent over twenty years teaching English at universities in Egypt, Japan, Berlin, Thailand, and Singapore. He returned to London in 1970 and later became a director of London publishers Chatto & Windus. First and foremost a poet, he published many collections in over fifty years, including Collected Poems: 1948-98 (1998), and translations from Japanese and German verse. He wrote novels for both adults and children, and revised with Madeleine Enright the English translation of Proust's In Search of Lost Time (1992), while his enormous output of non-fiction includes his Memoirs of a Mendicant Professor (1969), a number of critical works, and several anthologies, among them The Oxford Book of Death (1983) and The Faber Book of Fevers and Frets (1989). Observations on life (high and low), literature, morals and manners, human or animal, are recorded in The Way of the Cat (1992), and two companion volumes to Injury Time - Interplay: A Kind of Commonplace Book (1995) and Play Resumed: A Journal (1999). D. J. Enright received the Cholmondeley Award in 1974; he was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 1981 and appointed OBE in 1991. Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature since 1961, he was made Companion of Literature by the Society in 1998, an honour granted to no more than ten living writers at any one time. He died on the last day of 2002, after battling vigorously against cancer for seven years.

The definitive translation of a truly great French novel - Proust's beautiful, atmospheric story of memory and loss. 
 
This is the first volume of In Search of Lost Time, one of the greatest French novels of the twentieth century. Travelling back through time, the narrator tells the story of events long since past - his childhood happiness and sadness, and memories brought famously back to life by the taste of a madeleine. His family's friend and neighbour, the aristocratic Swann, weaves through the tale. We learn of Swann's passionate love affair with Odette, a jealous love that creates a model for the narrator's own relationships. All Proust's great themes begin here: time and memory, love and loss, art and the artistic vocation. 
 
THE ACCLAIMED FULLY REVISED EDITION OF THE SCOTT MONCRIEFF AND KILMARTIN TRANSLATION 
 
The best translation available: 'A really major, significant achievement, and one that you should put on your Christmas list immediately' Guardian 
 
VINTAGE FRENCH CLASSICS - six masterpieces of French fiction in collectable editions.

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation

In Search of Lost Time

A landmark BBC radio production of Proust's epic masterpiece, starring Derek Jacobi as the narrator, Marcel 
 
'Beautiful' - Charlotte Runcie, The Telegraph 
 
Waking in the small hours, Marcel Proust embarks on a retrospective journey, endeavouring to capture the elusive moments that shaped his life. A sip of tea and the taste of a madeleine prompt further recollections, and the floodgates of memory open, pouring forth a torrent of vivid reminiscences. 
 
Beginning with his childhood summers in Combray, and the long nights waiting for his mother to come and kiss him goodnight, he looks back on the places and people who have had a significant, lasting impact on him. The tragic story of his neighbour Charles Swann's obsessive love for the seductive Odette brings to mind his own youthful experiences and amours in Paris, Balbec and Venice; his mistress, Albertine; his closest companion, Robert; his predatory acquaintance the Baron de Charlus; and his many high-society friends and associates. 
 
Time, and the Great War, take their toll on Marcel and his circle, rendering the world he knows unrecognizable. But as he attempts to reconcile his past with his present, an encounter with an old flame sparks an epiphany, enabling him to finally become the writer he has always yearned to be... 
 
Adapted from the French by acclaimed playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker, this superb dramatisation of Proust's allegorical reflection on time, memory, art and love boasts an all-star cast including Derek Jacobi, Frances Barber, Paterson Joseph, Simon Russell Beale, Hattie Morahan and Robert Glenister. 
 
 
Production credits 
Translated and adapted from the French by Timberlake Wertenbaker 
Produced and directed by Celia de Wolff 
Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Tombling 
Recording and Sound Design: David Chilton and Lucinda Mason Brown 
Executive Producer: Peter Hoare 
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 
 
Cast 
Marcel (narrator) - Derek Jacobi 
Young Marcel - Isaac Watts 
Maman - Sylvestra le Touzel 
Papa - Oliver Cotton 
Grand-mère - Joanna David 
Françoise - Susan Brown 
Madame Verdurin - Frances Barber 
Monsieur Verdurin - Jeff Rawle 
Doctor Cottard - Lloyd Hutchinson 
Tante Leonie/Marquise de Sainte Euverte/Madame de Sazerat - Pamela Miles 
Mademoiselle Vinteuil/Prostitute/Madame d'Arpajon - Charlotte Blandford 
Mademoiselle Vinteuil's friend/Another prostitute - Phoebe Marshall 
Odette - Bessie Carter 
Pianist/Lift boy/Servant - Daniel Whitlam 
Charles Swann - Paterson Joseph 
Remi/Ski/Man at desk - Nicholas Armfield 
Elstir Biche/Monsieur de Breaute/Butler - Daniel Flynn 
Madame de Gallardon/Queen of Naples - Christine Kavanagh 
Brichot - Hugh Ross 
Forcheville/Boss/Bloch - Nicholas Gleaves 
Saniette/Older man - Roger Watkins 
Madame Cottard/Princess de Parme/Madame de Cambremer/Woman guest - Emma Amos 
Young Gilberte - Mary Glen 
Young Marcel - Isaac Watts 
Marcel - Blake Ritson 
Gilberte - Emma Mackey 
Monsieur de Norpois/De Boulbon/Servant/Jupien/Marquis de Cambremer - Ben Crowe 
Robert de Saint Loup - Kyle Soller 
Basin, Duke of Guermantes - Robert Glenister 
Oriane, Duchess of Guermantes - Fenella Woolgar 
Baron de Charlus - Simon Russell Beale 
Albertine - Hattie Morahan 
Morel - Tom Glenister 
Andree - Georgina Beedle 
Madame de Villeparisis - Serena Evans 
Servant/Concierge/Manager/Doctor - Finlay Paul 
Other voices - Nicholas Armfield, Phoebe Marshall 
Soldiers - Daniel Whitlam, Nicholas Armfield, Toheeb Jimoh, Tom Glenister 
Telephone operator - Alice Hoskyns 
Young men - Toheeb Jimoh, Finlay Paul, Daniel Whitlam, Sam Rawle 
Other parts played by members of the company 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 24-26 August 2019 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(p) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

A landmark BBC radio production of Proust's epic masterpiece, starring Derek Jacobi as the narrator, Marcel 
 
'Beautiful' - Charlotte Runcie, The Telegraph 
 
Waking in the small hours, Marcel Proust embarks on a retrospective journey, endeavouring to capture the elusive moments that shaped his life. A sip of tea and the taste of a madeleine prompt further recollections, and the floodgates of memory open, pouring forth a torrent of vivid reminiscences. 
 
Beginning with his childhood summers in Combray, and the long nights waiting for his mother to come and kiss him goodnight, he looks back on the places and people who have had a significant, lasting impact on him. The tragic story of his neighbour Charles Swann's obsessive love for the seductive Odette brings to mind his own youthful experiences and amours in Paris, Balbec and Venice; his mistress, Albertine; his closest companion, Robert; his predatory acquaintance the Baron de Charlus; and his many high-society friends and associates. 
 
Time, and the Great War, take their toll on Marcel and his circle, rendering the world he knows unrecognizable. But as he attempts to reconcile his past with his present, an encounter with an old flame sparks an epiphany, enabling him to finally become the writer he has always yearned to be... 
 
Adapted from the French by acclaimed playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker, this superb dramatisation of Proust's allegorical reflection on time, memory, art and love boasts an all-star cast including Derek Jacobi, Frances Barber, Paterson Joseph, Simon Russell Beale, Hattie Morahan and Robert Glenister. 
 
 
Production credits 
Translated and adapted from the French by Timberlake Wertenbaker 
Produced and directed by Celia de Wolff 
Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Tombling 
Recording and Sound Design: David Chilton and Lucinda Mason Brown 
Executive Producer: Peter Hoare 
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 
 
Cast 
Marcel (narrator) - Derek Jacobi 
Young Marcel - Isaac Watts 
Maman - Sylvestra le Touzel 
Papa - Oliver Cotton 
Grand-mère - Joanna David 
Françoise - Susan Brown 
Madame Verdurin - Frances Barber 
Monsieur Verdurin - Jeff Rawle 
Doctor Cottard - Lloyd Hutchinson 
Tante Leonie/Marquise de Sainte Euverte/Madame de Sazerat - Pamela Miles 
Mademoiselle Vinteuil/Prostitute/Madame d'Arpajon - Charlotte Blandford 
Mademoiselle Vinteuil's friend/Another prostitute - Phoebe Marshall 
Odette - Bessie Carter 
Pianist/Lift boy/Servant - Daniel Whitlam 
Charles Swann - Paterson Joseph 
Remi/Ski/Man at desk - Nicholas Armfield 
Elstir Biche/Monsieur de Breaute/Butler - Daniel Flynn 
Madame de Gallardon/Queen of Naples - Christine Kavanagh 
Brichot - Hugh Ross 
Forcheville/Boss/Bloch - Nicholas Gleaves 
Saniette/Older man - Roger Watkins 
Madame Cottard/Princess de Parme/Madame de Cambremer/Woman guest - Emma Amos 
Young Gilberte - Mary Glen 
Young Marcel - Isaac Watts 
Marcel - Blake Ritson 
Gilberte - Emma Mackey 
Monsieur de Norpois/De Boulbon/Servant/Jupien/Marquis de Cambremer - Ben Crowe 
Robert de Saint Loup - Kyle Soller 
Basin, Duke of Guermantes - Robert Glenister 
Oriane, Duchess of Guermantes - Fenella Woolgar 
Baron de Charlus - Simon Russell Beale 
Albertine - Hattie Morahan 
Morel - Tom Glenister 
Andree - Georgina Beedle 
Madame de Villeparisis - Serena Evans 
Servant/Concierge/Manager/Doctor - Finlay Paul 
Other voices - Nicholas Armfield, Phoebe Marshall 
Soldiers - Daniel Whitlam, Nicholas Armfield, Toheeb Jimoh, Tom Glenister 
Telephone operator - Alice Hoskyns 
Young men - Toheeb Jimoh, Finlay Paul, Daniel Whitlam, Sam Rawle 
Other parts played by members of the company 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 24-26 August 2019 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(p) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Vintage Minis

Jealousy

Vintage Minis bring you the world’s greatest writers on the experiences that make us human – from birth to death and everything in between

Proust sinks deepest in readers because the book is so exhaustively analytical, so ceaselessly truthful... The experience of reading [the book] becomes, in itself, an unforgettable thing

Imagine our joy when Vintage announced that it is publishing a collection of easily digestible books from the world’s most celebrated writers on the experiences that make us human… They look good and read well. That’s win/win in our book.

Marcel Proust was born in Auteuil in 1871. In his twenties he became a conspicuous society figure, frequenting the most fashionable Paris salons of the day. After 1899, however, his suffering from chronic asthma, the death of his parents and his growing disillusionment with humanity caused him to lead an increasingly retired life. He slept by day and worked by night, writing letters and devoting himself to the completion of A la recherche du temps perdu. He died in 1922 before publication of the last three volumes of his great work.

Can we truly know the one we love? In this painfully candid book Marcel Proust looks straight into the green eye of every lover’s jealous struggle. He broods on why we are driven to try possess one another, how jealousy can outlive death, and whether we can ever reclaim those careless days of first love. There is no greater chronicler of jealousy’s darkest fears and destructive suspicions than Proust. 
 
Selected from the book In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust 
 
VINTAGE MINIS: GREAT MINDS. BIG IDEAS. LITTLE BOOKS. 
 
A series of short books by the world’s greatest writers on the experiences that make us human 
 
Also in the Vintage Minis series: 
Desire by Haruki Murakami 
Eating by Nigella Lawson 
Home by Salman Rushdie 
Babies by Anne Enright

In Search Of Lost Time

A BBC Radio six-part dramatisation of Marcel Proust's groundbreaking series of novels, tracing the extraordinary story of the author's own life.

A BBC Radio six-part dramatisation of Marcel Proust’s groundbreaking series of novels, tracing the extraordinary story of the author’s own life.   Starring James Wilby and Jonathan Firth, and with a distinguished cast including Harriet Walter, Imogen Stubbs and Corin Redgrave, this rich, multi-layered adaptation brings out all the variety and subtlety of Proust’s magnificent masterpiece.  Featuring a fictional version of himself - ‘Marcel’ - and a host of friends, acquaintances and lovers, 'In Search of Lost Time' is Proust’s search for the key to the mysteries of memory, time and consciousness. As he recalls his childhood days, the sad affair of Charles Swann and Odette de Crecy, his transition to manhood, the tortures of love and the ravages of war, he realises that the simplest of discoveries can lead to astonishing possibilities.  ‘Delectable and memorable’ - Guardian ‘The kind of radio you shoo people out of the room for’ - Independent on Sunday

Within a Budding Grove

In Search of Lost Time, Vol 2

The definitive translation of the greatest French novel of the twentieth century

Scott Moncrieff's translation was rather like swimming through syrup...Kilmartin and Enright have produced a version that wonderfully proves the greatness of this novel, this novelist. The prose that describes Swann's sexual obsession, for instance, is so good you have to stop after many a paragraph, re-read, think over it

What a genius! Whole pages cascade, like great jazz slaloms

As close to being a definitive English version of the great novel as we are likely to get. This new edition will serve to introduce new generations of readers to what Somerset Maugham rightly described as the greatest novel of our century

THE ACCLAIMED FULLY REVISED EDITION OF THE SCOTT MONCRIEFF AND KILMARTIN TRANSLATION 
 
Within a Budding Grove describes the first shoots of an astonishing love affair. When Proust's adolescent narrator travels from Paris to the sunny seaside town of Balbec he meets an intriguing set of new acquaintances who provide him with both friendship and entertainment. Most significantly of all he meets a dark-haired girl with sparkling eyes and a tiny beauty spot on her chin: the mysterious Albertine, who will become the great love of his life.

The Guermantes Way

In Search of Lost Time, Vol 3

A version that wonderfully proves the greatness of this novel, this novelist

It's a novel with zero plot, but the narrator's brilliant analyses of everyday experiences more than make up for it. I've never read a better description of what it feels like to fall asleep

The plot is as gripping as any soap opera, the jokes come thick and fast...Proust's is a world entire - so why not take it with you anywhere in the world?

The way he replicates the workings of the mind changed the art of novel-writing forever...his style is extraordinary, enveloping, captivating

Marcel Proust was born in Auteuil in 1871. In his twenties he became a conspicuous society figure, frequenting the most fashionable Paris salons of the day. After 1889, however, his suffering from chronic asthma, the death of his parents and his growing disillustionment with humanity caused him to lead an increasingly retired life. He slept by day and worked by night, writing letters and devoting himself to the completion of A la recherche du temps perdu. He died in 1922 before publication of the last three volumes of his great life's work.

THE ACCLAIMED FULLY REVISED EDITION OF THE SCOTT MONCRIEFF AND KILMARTIN TRANSLATION 
 
In The Guermantes Way Proust's narrator recalls his initiation into the dazzling world of Parisian high society. Looking back over his time in the glamorous salons of the aristocracy, he satirises this shallow world and his own youthful infatuation with it. His observations, and his experiences with his lover Albertine, also educate him in the volatile nature of desire as he walks the path towards adulthood.

Sodom and Gomorrah

In Search of Lost Time, Vol 4

A giant miniature, full of images, of superimposed gardens, of games conducted between space and time

Proust isn't just the most profound of novelists, but the most entertaining, too

THE ACCLAIMED FULLY REVISED EDITION OF THE SCOTT MONCRIEFF AND KILMARTIN TRANSLATION 
 
In Sodom and Gomorrah Proust's narrator not only depicts the class tensions of a changing France at the beginning of the twentieth century but also exposes the decadence of aristocratic Parisian society and muses upon the subjects of homosexuality and sexual jealousy.

The Captive & The Fugitive

In Search of Lost Time, Vol 5

There are many who swear the experience has permanently enriched their lives

THE ACCLAIMED FULLY REVISED EDITION OF THE SCOTT MONCRIEFF AND KILMARTIN TRANSLATION 
 
In the two novels - The Captive and The Fugitive - contained in this volume, Proust's narrator is living in his mother's apartment in Paris with his lover, Albertine. However, this is far from an idyllic state of affairs. His obsessive love for her means that their relationship is shadowed by jealousy and headed for tragedy.

Time Regained and A Guide to Proust

In Search of Lost Time, Vol 6

As close to being a definitive version of the great novel as we are likely to get

Sublime... In Proust's interweaving of romantic delusions, the glory of the descriptions, as the narrator strives to recapture the past, redeems everyone

Marcel Proust was born in Auteuil in 1871. In his twenties he became a conspicuous society figure, frequenting the most fashionable Paris salons of the day. After 1889, however, his suffering from chronic asthma, the death of his parents and his growing disillustionment with humanity caused him to lead an increasingly retired life. He slept by day and worked by night, writing letters and devoting himself to the completion of A la recherche du temps perdu. He died in 1922 before publication of the last three volumes of his great life's work.

THE ACCLAIMED FULLY REVISED EDITION OF THE SCOTT MONCRIEFF AND KILMARTIN TRANSLATION 
 
Time Regained begins in the bleak and uncertain years of World War I. Years later, after the war's end, Proust's narrator returns to Paris and reflects on time, reality, jealousy, artistic creation, and the raw material of literature - his past life. 
 
This edition includes the indispensable A Guide to Proust, compiled by Terence Kilmartin and revised by Joanna Kilmartin.

In Search Of Lost Time Vol 1

Marcel Proust was born in Auteuil in 1871. In his twenties he became a conspicuous society figure, frequenting the most fashionable Paris salons of the day. After 1889, however, his suffering from chronic asthma, the death of his parents and his growing disillustionment with humanity caused him to lead an increasingly retired life. He slept by day and worked by night, writing letters and devoting himself to the completion of A la recherche du temps perdu. He died in 1922 before publication of the last three volumes of his great life's work.

The definitive translation of one of the greatest French novels of the twentieth century 
 
In the opening volume of Proust's great novel, the narrator travels backwards in time in order to tell the story of a love affair that had taken place before his own birth. Swann's jealous love for Odette provides a prophetic model of the narrator's own relationships. All Proust's great themes - time and memory, love and loss, art and the artistic vocation - are here in kernel form. 
 
'Surely the greatest novelist of the 20th century' Telegraph

Days of Reading

'Reading is merely the noblest of distractions'  Marcel Proust

Marcel Proust (1871 - 1922) is now generally viewed as the greatest French novelist and perhaps the greatest European novelist of the 20th century. He lived much of his later life as a reclusive semi-invalid in a sound-proofed flat in Paris giving himself over entirely to writing In Search of Lost Time.

In these inspiring essays about why we read, Proust explores all the pleasures and trials that we take from books, as well as explaining the beauty of Ruskin and his work, and the joys of losing yourself in literature as a child. 
 
Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves &ndash; and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives &ndash; and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.

Finding Time Again

In Search of Lost Time: Volume 6

<a href="https://shop.penguin.co.uk/collections/book-bundles-modern-classics/?&amp;utm_source=Penguin.co.uk&amp;utm_medium=Linked_text&amp;utm_campaign=Penguin_Modern_Classics_Series_26_06">Choose 3 timeless classics for only £21 over on the Penguin Shop</a>

'The latest Penguin Proust is a triumph, and will bring this inexhaustible artwork to new audiences throughout the English-speaking world.' Sunday Telegraph

Marcel Proust (1871-1922) is now generally viewed as the greatest French novelist and perhaps the greatest European novelist of the 20th century.  He lived much of his later life as a reclusive semi-invalid in a sound-proofed flat in Paris giving himself entirely to writing IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME.

Since the original, prewar translation there has been no completely new rendering of the French original into English. This translation brings to the fore a more sharply engaged, comic and lucid Proust. IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME is one of the greatest, most entertaining reading experiences in any language. As the great story unfolds from its magical opening scenes to its devastating end, it is the Penguin Proust that makes Proust accessible to a new generation. 
Each book is translated by a different, superb translator working under the general editorship of Professor Christopher Prendergast, University of Cambridge.

The Prisoner and the Fugitive

In Search of Lost Time: Volume 5

Marcel Proust (1871-1922) is now generally viewed as the greatest French novelist and perhaps the greatest European novelist of the 20th century.

Since the original, prewar translation there has been no completely new rendering of the French original into English. This translation brings to the fore a more sharply engaged, comic and lucid Proust. IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME is one of the greatest, most entertaining reading experiences in any language. As the great story unfolds from its magical opening scenes to its devastating end, it is the Penguin Proust that makes Proust accessible to a new generation. 
Each book is translated by a different, superb translator working under the general editorship of Professor Christopher Prendergast, University of Cambridge.

In Search of Lost Time: Volume 4

Brilliant reception for the hardcover edition

Since the original, prewar translation there has been no completely new rendering of the French original into English. This translation brings to the fore a more sharply engaged, comic and lucid Proust. IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME is one of the greatest, most enjoyable reading experiences in any language. As the great story unfolds from its magical opening scenes to its devastating end, it is the Penguin Proust that makes Proust accessible to a new generation. 
Each book is translated by a different, superb translator working under the general editorship of Professor Christopher Prendergast.

In Search of Lost Time: Volume 3

Brilliant reception for the hardcover edition: 'The latest Penguin Proust is a triumph, and will bring this inexhaustible artwork to new audiences throughout the English-speaking world.' Sunday Telegraph

Marcel Proust (1871-1922) is now generally viewed as the greatest French novelist and perhaps the greatest European novelist of the 20th century.  He lived much of his later life as a reclusive semi-invalid in a sound-proofed flat in Paris, giving himself over entirely to writing IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME.

Since the original prewar translation there has been no completely new rendering of the French original into English. This translation brings to the fore a more sharply engaged, comic and lucid Proust. IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME is one of the greatest,most entertaining reading experiences in any language. As the great story unfolds from its magical opening scenes to its devastating end, it is the Penguin Proust that makes Proust accessible to a new generation. 
Each volume is translated by a different, superb translator working under the general editorship of Professor Christopher Prendergast, University of Cambridge.

In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower

In Search of Lost Time: Volume 2

Brilliant reception for the hardcover edition: 'The latest Penguin Proust is a triumph, and will bring this inexhaustible artwork to new audiences throughout the English-speaking world.' Sunday Telegraph

Marcel Proust (1871-1922) is generally viewed as the greatest French novelist and perhaps the greatest European novelist of the 20th century.

The Way by Swann's

In Search of Lost Time: Volume 1

One of the greatest, most entertaining reading experiences in any language, Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time Vol. 1: The Way by Swann's is published in a new translation from the French by Lydia Davis in Penguin Classics. 
 
The Way by Swann's is one of the great novels of childhood, depicting the impressions of a sensitive boy of his family and neighbours, brought dazzlingly back to life by the famous taste of a madeleine. It contains the separate short novel, A Love of Swann's, a study of sexual jealousy that forms a crucial part of the vast, unfolding structure of In Search of Lost Time. This book established Proust as one of the greatest voices of the modern age - satirical, sceptical, confiding and endlessly varied in his responses to the human condition. 
 
Since the original pre-war translation Remembrance of Things Past by C. K. Scott Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin, there has been no completely new rendering of Proust's French original into English. This translation brings to the fore a more sharply engaged, comic and lucid Proust. As the great story unfolds from its magical opening scenes to its devastating end, it is this Penguin Classics edition of In Search of Lost Time that makes Proust accessible to a new generation. 
 
Marcel Proust (1871-1922) is generally viewed as the greatest French novelist and perhaps the greatest European novelist of the 20th century. He lived much of his later life as a reclusive semi-invalid in a sound-proofed flat in Paris, giving himself over entirely to writing his masterpiece In Search of Lost Time (À la recherche du temps perdu). 
 
If you enjoyed In Search Of Lost Time, you might like James Joyce's Ulysses, also available in Penguin Modern Classics. 
 
'The latest Penguin Proust is a triumph, and will bring this inexhaustible artwork to new audiences throughout the English-speaking world' 
Sunday Telegraph

Marcel Proust (1871-1922) is generally viewed as the greatest French novelist and perhaps the greatest European novelist of the 20th century.  He lived much of his later life as a reclusive semi-invalid in a sound-proofed flat in Paris, giving himself over entirely to writing IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME.

In Search Of Lost Times Volume 1

The finest editions available of the world's greatest classics from Homer to Achebe, Tolstoy to Ishiguro, Proust to Pullman, printed on a fine acid-free, cream-wove paper that will not discolour with age, with sewn, full cloth bindings and silk ribbon markers, and at remarkably low prices. All books include substantial introductions by major scholars and contemporary writers, and comparative chronologies of literary and historical context.

THE ACCLAIMED FULLY REVISED EDITION OF THE SCOTT MONCRIEFF AND KILMARTIN TRANSLATION

In the opening volume of Proust's great novel, the narrator travels backwards in time in order to tell the story of a love affair that had taken place before his own birth. Swann's jealous love for Odette provides a prophetic model of the narrator's own relationships. All Proust's great themes - time and memory, love and loss, art and the artistic vocation - are here in kernel form.

Marcel Proust

Praise for Remembrance of Things Past: Volume 3

Scott Moncrieff's [volumes] belong to that special category of translations which are themselves literary masterpieces ... his book is one of those translations, such as the Authorized Version of the Bible itself, w ...

For the reader wishing to tackle Proust your guide must be C K Scott Moncrieff ... There are some who believe his headily perfumed translation of À la recherche du temps perdu conjures Belle Époque France mor ...

I was more interested and fascinated by your rendering than by Proust's creation

Scott Moncrieff's [volumes] belong to that special category of translations which are themselves literary masterpieces ... his book is one of those translations, such as the Authorized Version of the Bible itself, w ...

For the reader wishing to tackle Proust your guide must be C K Scott Moncrieff ... There are some who believe his headily perfumed translation of À la recherche du temps perdu conjures Belle Époque France mor ...

I was more interested and fascinated by your rendering than by Proust's creation

Scott Moncrieff's [volumes] belong to that special category of translations which are themselves literary masterpieces ... his book is one of those translations, such as the Authorized Version of the Bible itself, w ...

For the reader wishing to tackle Proust your guide must be C K Scott Moncrieff ... There are some who believe his headily perfumed translation of À la recherche du temps perdu conjures Belle Époque France mor ...

I was more interested and fascinated by your rendering than by Proust's creation

Books by Marcel Proust

Articles featuring Marcel Proust

A guide to autofiction

Where to start with French Classics

What book to read, based on your favourite Christmas song

More than cake: unravelling the mysteries of Proust’s madeleine

The original translation of Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust

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