In Swann's Way, the themes of Proust's masterpiece are introduced, and the narrator's childhood in Paris and Combray is recalled, most memorably in the evocation of the famous maternal good-night kiss. The recollection of the narrator's love for Swann's daughter Gilberte leads to an account of Swann's passion for Odette and the rise of the nouveaux riches Verdurins.

For this authoritative English-language edition, D. J. Enright has revised the late Terence Kilmartin's acclaimed reworking of C. K. Scott Moncrieff's translation to take into account the new definitive French editions...

Travelling backwards in time, the narrator tells the story of a love affair that had taken place before his own birth.

Travelling from Paris to the sunny seaside town of Balbec, the narrator meets an intriguing set of acquaintances who provide him with both friendship and entertainment. Most significantly, he meets a dark-haired girl with sparkling eyes and a tiny beauty spot on her chin, the mysterious Albertine, who becomes the love of his life.

Recalling his initiation into the dazzling world of Parisian high society and looking back over his time in the glamorous salons of the aristocracy, the narrator satirises this shallow world and his own youthful infatuation with it. His observations also educates him in the volatile nature of desire as he walks the path towards adulthood.

Describes the class tensions of a changing France at the beginning of the twentieth century and exposes the decadence of aristocratic Parisian society and muses upon the subjects of homosexuality and sexual jealousy.

Far from an idyllic state of affairs, the narrator is living in his mother's apartment in Paris with his lover, Albertine. His obsessive love for her means that their relationship is shadowed by jealousy and headed for tragedy.

'In Search of Lost Time' is Proust's masterpiece and was described by Somerset Maugham as the greatest novel of the 20th century. This final part contains notes, addenda and synopses, and a guide to the complete work.

In this second volume of In Search of Lost Time, the narrator turns from the childhood reminiscences of Swann's Way to memories of his adolescence. Having gradually become indifferent to Swann's daughter Gilberte, the narrator visits the seaside resort of Balbec with his grandmother and meets a new object of attention--Albertine, a girl with brilliant, laughing eyes and plump, matt cheeks. For this authoritative English-language edition, D. J. Enright has revised the late Terence Kilmartin's acclaimed reworking of C. K. Scott Moncrieff's translation to take into account the new definitive...

Marcel continues his voyage of discovery through the homosexual world, where affairs of the ageing Baron de Charlus lead to unexpected and hilarious adventures.

Marcel Proust was forty-two years old whenSwann's Way was published, but its foundational ideas and general shape had been evolving for decades. "Contexts" includes a 1912 reader's report of the manuscript that exemplifies publishers' complicated reactions to Proust's new form of writing. Also included are three important post-publication reviews of the novel, by Elie-Joseph Bois, Lucien Daudet, and Paul Souday, as well as Andre Arnyvelde's 1913 interview with Proust. The fourteen critical essays and interpretations ofSwann's Way in this volume speak to the novel's many...