Summary of In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust

“Life is too short, and Proust is too long,” wrote Anatole France in 1913 after the publication of In Search of Lost Time’s first volume – at a time when the remaining six volumes weren’t even on the horizon. Nobody, not even the author himself, had the slightest idea what the agonizing, drawn-out search for the meaning and essence of art would spawn: a literary universe that tackled or anticipated nearly all the philosophical and psychological questions of his time. The novel deals with the subjective nature of experiencing reality; with the power of the unconscious; and with love, jealousy, sickness, war, homosexuality, pederasty, the transience of life, and death – or merely the creative potency of a childhood memory. Proust remains unmatched in the obsession and attention to detail with which he illuminated every single aspect of human existence. This makes for a lengthy voyage, and you are likely to run out of steam at times. But to dive deeply into Proust’s universe is well worth your effort – and certainly not time lost.

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