《追憶似水年華》（一譯為《追憶逝水年華》）這部被譽為二十世紀最重要的文學作品之一的長篇巨着，以其出色的對心靈追索的描寫和卓越的意識流技巧而風靡世界，並奠定了它在當代世界文學中的地位。
多捲集長篇巨着《追憶逝水年華》是法國作傢馬塞爾.普魯斯特(1871-1922)的代表作，全書共七部，十五捲，從1905年開始創作，至作者逝世前全部完成。小說的第一部《通往斯萬傢的路》於1913年問世，但反應冷淡，一些有名的出版社都不願出版，作者便自費印行。後來《通往斯萬傢的路》逐漸獲得文藝界的贊賞。於是，各大出版社竟相與普魯斯特簽訂合同，以求取得出版這部多捲集的其餘幾部作品的權利。不久，第一次世界大戰爆發，出版工作被擱置下來。戰爭結束後，小說的第二部《在花枝招展的少女們身旁》於1919年出版，獲龔古爾文學奬，普魯斯特名聲大振。此後，小說的第三部《蓋爾芒傢》和第四部《索多姆和郭穆爾》相繼於1921和1922年出版，最後三部《女囚犯》(1923)，《逃亡者》(1925)，和《昔日再現》(1927) 則是普魯斯特逝世後纔出版的。
目錄
第一部 在斯萬傢那邊
追憶似水年華追憶似水年華
>第一捲 貢布雷
>>第一章
>>第二章
>第二捲 斯萬之戀
>第三捲 地名：那個姓氏
第二部 在少女們身旁
>第一捲 斯萬夫人周圍
>第二捲 地名：地方
第三部 蓋爾芒特傢那邊
>第一捲
>第二捲
>>第一章
>>第二章
第四部
>第一捲
>第二捲
>>第一章
>>第二章
>>第三章
>>第四章
第五部 女囚
第六部 女逃亡者
第七部 重現的時光
《追憶逝水年華》是一部與傳統小說不同的長篇小說。全書以敘述者“我”為主體，將其所見所聞所思所感融合一體，既有對社會生活，人情世態的真實描寫，又是一份作者自我追求，自我認識的內心經歷的記錄。除敘事以外，還包含有大量的感想和議論。整部作品沒有中心人物，沒有完整的故事，沒有波瀾起伏，貫穿始終的情節綫索。它大體以敘述者的生活經歷和內心活動為軸心，穿插描寫了大量的人物事件，猶如一棵枝丫交錯的大樹，可以說是在一部主要小說上派生着許多獨立成篇的其他小說，也可以說是一部交織着好幾個主題麯的巨大交響樂。
小說中的敘述者“我”是一個傢境富裕而又體弱多病的青年，從小對書畫有特殊的愛好，曾經嘗試過文學創作，沒有成功。他經常出入巴黎的上層社會，頻繁往來於各茶會，舞會，招待會及其它時髦的社交場合，並鐘情於猶太富商的女兒吉爾伯特，但不久就失戀了。此外，他還到過家乡貢柏萊小住，到過海濱勝地巴培剋療養。他結識了另一位少女阿爾伯蒂，發現阿爾伯蒂患同性戀，便决心娶她為妻，以糾正她的變態心理。他把阿爾伯蒂禁閉在自己傢中，阿爾伯蒂卻設法逃跑，於是，他多方打聽她，尋找她，後來得知阿爾伯蒂騎馬摔死。在悲痛中他認識到自己的稟賦是寫作，他所經歷的悲歡苦樂正是文學創作的材料，衹有文學創作才能把昔日失去的東西找回來。
在小說中，敘述者“我”的生活經歷並不占全書的主要篇幅。作者通過故事套故事，故事與故事交叉重迭的方法，描寫了衆多的人物事件，展示了一幅19世紀與20世紀之交法國上流社會的生活圖景。這裏有姿色迷人，談吐高雅而又無聊庸俗的蓋爾芒夫人，有道德墮落，行為仇惡的變性人查琉斯男爵，有縱情聲色的浪蕩公子斯萬等等。此外，小說還描寫了一些於上流社會有關聯的作傢，藝術傢，他們大都生前落魄失意，而作品卻永世長存。小說還描寫了一些下層的勞動者。《追憶逝水年華》這部長篇巨着通過上千個人物的活動，冷靜，真實，細緻地再現了法國上流社會的生活習俗，人情世態。因此有些西方評論傢把它與巴爾紮剋的《人間喜劇》相提並論，稱之為“風流喜劇”。
《追憶逝水年華》是一部有獨特風格的長篇小說，他不僅再現了客觀世界，同時也展現了敘述者的主觀世界，記錄了敘述者對客觀世界的內心感受。作者感興趣的不是敘述故事，交代情節和刻畫人物形象，而是抒發自己對某一問題的感想和分析。例如，敘述者參加了蓋爾芒公爵傢的一次晚宴，這使他長期以來對貴族的種種幻想頓時破滅，他意識到過去對他有魅力的衹是名稱，而不是真實的世界。整部作品對外部世界的描述同敘述者對它的感受，思考，分析渾然一體，又互相引發，互相充實，從而形成了物從我出，物中有我，物我合一的藝術境界。
《追憶逝水年華》這部長篇，除了第一部中關於斯萬的戀愛故事采用第三人稱描寫手法外，其餘都是通過第一人稱敘述出來的，敘述者“我”的回憶是貫穿全書的重要藝術表現方式。小說開捲，“我”從床上醒來，在夢幻般的狀態中千思百想集於心頭。這時，由於一杯茶和一塊點心的觸發，使他回憶起小時候在姑媽萊奧妮傢生活的情景。這不僅引出了敘述者的家庭身世和個人經歷，還引出了蓋爾芒和斯萬兩大傢族，引出了形形色色的人物事件，整部小說的內容就是通過敘述者的回憶嚮縱深發掘，逐步推進，最後完整地呈現出來。
《追憶逝水年華》共7部，15捲，其中包括《在斯旺傢那邊》（1913）、《在少女們身旁》（1919）、《蓋爾芒特傢那邊》（1921）、《索多姆與戈摩爾》（1922）和作者死後出版的《女囚》、《女逃亡者》和《重現的時光》。第一部《在斯旺傢那邊》，沒有得到文藝界的認可，第二部《在少女們身旁》（1919），獲龔古爾文學奬，從此名聲大振。
《追憶逝水年華》是一部巴爾紮剋《人間喜劇》那樣“規模宏大”的作品。小說的敘述者“我”是一個富於才華，喜愛文學藝術而又體弱多病的富傢子弟。作品透過主人公的追憶，表現了作者對家庭、童年和初戀時感情的懷念，對庸俗事物的厭惡，同時也反映了19世紀末20世紀初所謂“黃金時代”的法國巴黎上流社會的種種人情世態。
小說故事套故事，人物事件衆多。一方面是遵循法國舊傳統習慣的聖·日耳曼貴族、蓋爾芒特傢族的公爵和公爵夫人、蓋爾芒特親王和王妃、公爵的兄弟等。另一方面是新的資産階級暴發戶和活躍在沙竜裏的幫閑人物：斯旺及其情婦、交際花奧黛特、富裕而有文化教養的凡爾杜蘭夫婦、外交官、醫生、藝術傢等。兩個對立的社會，原來並不融洽，資産階級很難跨進古老貴族的門廳。但是隨着時間的推移和復雜的聯姻關係，鴻溝逐漸被打破。斯旺死後，奧黛特成了蓋爾芒特公爵的情婦。凡爾杜蘭太太過去不被貴族傢所接納，現在成了親王夫人。作者在貴族閉塞和悠閑的世外桃源中窺視到了衰敗景象，從大資産階級庸俗狂妄中看到了一種畸形社會的畫面。雖然作者在描繪這種種畫面時，並沒有用尖銳的譴責之詞，但從他筆鋒轉嚮下層人民時所表現出的好感中，又能體味到他的褒貶之意。那個在上層人傢服務多年的老女僕弗朗索瓦茲，雖然滿口鄉下土話，腦子裏有不少迷信和禁忌，但她勤勞、純樸，有着鄉下人的聰明機智，是作者最喜愛的人物之一。小說除了描寫上流社會的生活外，還涉及到文學、繪畫、音樂、建築，以及第一次世界大戰等諸多方面的內容。
《追憶逝水年華》是一部回憶錄式的自傳體小說，但沒有傳統回憶錄那樣對往事有條理的整理和分析，而是通過一個“非常神經質和過分受溺愛的孩子”對自己“緩慢成長過程”的追憶，漸漸地“意識”到自己周圍人們的“存在”。作者衹是捕捉自己心頭留下並時時浮現在腦際的印象，然後加以展現。對他來說，事情發生的先後沒有意義，現實從回憶中形成，通過回憶，既認識到現實世界，也認識到“自我”的存在。兒時早晨起來喝熱茶時一塊俗名叫“瑪德萊娜”的甜糕點泡在茶裏，邊喝邊吃點心所感到的樂處，在最後一捲《重現的時光》重提時，“今”與“昔”的回憶已同時出現在作者腦海裏。通過回憶，他解除了“時間”的束縛，獲得了過去、現在的重疊和交叉，形成了特殊的回憶結構。
作品的敘述角度明顯區別於傳統小說。作者說：“在我們幼小時，我覺得聖書上任何人物和命運都沒有像諾亞那樣悲慘，他因洪水泛濫，不得不在方舟裏度過四十天，後來，我時常臥病，迫不得已成年纍月地呆在方舟裏過活。這時我纔明白，儘管諾亞方舟緊閉着，茫茫黑夜鎮住大地，但是諾亞從方舟裏看世界是再透徹不過了。”作者也不是站在事物的外部觀察世界，而是將客觀世界溶入內心，然後再表現出來。他通過對內心世界的探索來發現外部世界，從意識洪流中認識外部世界的價值。作品的人稱也有異於傳統小說。作品中的“我”並不是傳統小說中的第一人稱，他衹是一個穿針引綫的人物，通過“我”的觀察、感受引出其他人物和繪成絢麗多姿的畫面。普魯斯特雖然是現代派作傢，但他的語言風格深受蒙田、塞維尼夫人和聖·西蒙等法國古典作傢的影響，有着曠達、高雅、細膩、婉轉的特點。
法國著名傳記文學家兼評論傢A·莫羅亞（1885—1967）在1954年巴黎伽裏瑪出版社出版的《七星叢書》本的《追憶逝水年華》序言中寫道：“一九○○年至一九五○年這五十年中，除了《追憶逝水年華》之外，沒有別的值得永志不忘的小說巨著。不僅由於普魯斯特的作品和巴爾紮剋的作品一樣篇帙浩繁，因為也有人寫過十五捲甚至二十捲的巨型小說，而且有時也寫得文采動人，然而他們並不給我們發現 ‘新大陸’或包羅萬象的感覺。這些作傢滿足於挖掘早已為人所知的‘礦脈’，而馬塞爾·普魯斯特則發現了新的‘礦藏’。”這也是強調《追憶逝水年華》的藝術優點就在於一個“新”字。然而藝術發展的客觀規律並不在於單純的創新，也不在於為創新而創新，更不在於對於傳統的優秀藝術傳統采取虛無主義的態度，從零開始的創新。創新是藝術的靈魂，然而創新絶不是輕而易舉的，絶不是盲目的幻想。《追憶逝水年華》的創新是在傳統的優秀藝術基礎上的發展。
法國詩人P·瓦萊裏（1871—1945）和著名評論傢、教授A·蒂博岱（1874—1936）都在他們的評論中誇奬《追憶逝水年華》的藝術風格繼承了法國文學的優秀傳統。紀德和蒂博岱都提到普魯斯特和十六世紀的偉大散文作傢蒙田（1533—1592）在文風的曠達和高雅方面，似乎有一脈相承之妙。還有別的評論傢甚至特意提到普魯斯特受法國著名的回憶錄作傢聖·西蒙（1675—1755）的影響。
《追憶逝水年華》的作者逐漸構思這部小說大致在上世紀末年和本世紀初年。一九○七年他下定决心要創作這部小說，一九○八年他開始動筆，到一九二二年他去世前夕，匆匆寫完最後一捲《重現的時光》。普魯斯特創作《追憶逝水年華》的十餘年間，完全禁閉在鬥室中，與世隔絶。他全部精力與時間集中在回憶與寫作上，毫不關心世事，所以第一次世界大戰以及它對法國人民生活的強烈影響，在《追憶逝水年華》中幾乎毫無反映。這部小說中反映的巴黎是十九世紀八、九十年代的巴黎。十九世紀末葉是法蘭西資本主義逐漸由壟斷資本進入帝國主義的過程。二十世紀初年，法國資本主義已經達到最高階段，即帝國主義階段。在這時期，法國社會出現了物質生活方面的極大繁榮。1900年巴黎舉辦震動全球的“世界博覽會”，就表現出烜赫一時的繁榮景象。凡此種種，都沒有引起在鬥室中埋頭寫作的普魯斯特註意。由此可見，就其所反映的社會生活而言，《追憶逝水年華》是十九世紀末年的小說，是反映臨近巨大的變革與轉折點時刻的法國社會的小說，因此可以說也是一部反映舊時代的小說。《似水年華》是法國傳統小說藝術的最後一顆碩果，最後一朵奇葩，最後一座偉大的里程碑。
The novel as we know it began seriously to take shape in 1909, and work continued for the remainder of Proust's life, broken off only by his final illness and death in the autumn of 1922. The main overarching structure was in place at an early stage, and the novel is effectively complete as a work of art and a literary cosmos, but Proust kept adding new material through his final years while editing one time after another for print; the final three volumes actually contain oversights and fragmentary or unpolished passages which only existed in draft form at the death of the author; the publication of these parts was overseen by his brother Robert.
The work was published in France between 1913 and 1927; Proust paid for the publication of the first volume (by the Grasset publishing house) himself after it had been turned down by leading editors who had been offered the manuscript in longhand. Many of its ideas, motifs, and scenes appear in adumbrated form in Proust's unfinished novel, Jean Santeuil (1896–99), though the perspective and treatment there are different, and in his unfinished hybrid of philosophical essay and story, Contre Sainte-Beuve (1908–09). The novel has had a pervasive influence on twentieth-century literature, whether because writers have sought to emulate it, or attempted to parody and discredit some of its traits. In his work, Proust explores the themes of time, space, and memory, but the novel is above all a condensation of innumerable literary, structural, stylistic, and thematic possibilities.
Initial publication
Although different editions divide the work into a varying number of tomes, A la recherche du temps perdu or In Search of Lost Time is a novel consisting of seven volumes.
Vol. French titles Published English titles
1 Du côté de chez Swann 1913 Swann's Way
The Way by Swann's
2 À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs 1919 Within a Budding Grove
In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower
3 Le Côté de Guermantes
(published in two volumes) 1920/21 The Guermantes Way
4 Sodome et Gomorrhe
(published in two volumes) 1921/22 Cities of the Plain
Sodom and Gomorrah
5 La Prisonnière 1923 The Captive
The Prisoner
6 La Fugitive
Albertine disparue 1925 The Fugitive
The Sweet Cheat Gone
Albertine Gone
7 Le Temps retrouvé 1927 The Past Recaptured
Time Regained
Finding Time Again
Volume 1: Du côté de chez Swann (1913) was rejected by a number of publishers, including Fasquelle, Ollendorf, and the Nouvelle Revue Française (NRF). André Gide famously was given the manuscript to read to advise NRF on publication, and leafing through the seemingly endless collection of memories and philosophizing or melancholic episodes, came across a few minor syntactic bloopers, which made him decide to turn the work down in his audit. Proust eventually arranged with the publisher Grasset to pay for the costs of publication himself. When published it was advertised as the first of a three-volume novel (Bouillaguet and Rogers, 316-7).
Du côté de chez Swann is divided into four parts: "Combray I" (sometimes referred to in English as the "Overture"), "Combray II," "Un Amour de Swann," and "Noms de pays: le nom." ('Names of places: the name'). A third-person novella within Du côté de chez Swann, "Un Amour de Swann" is sometimes published as a volume by itself. As it forms the self-contained story of Charles Swann's love affair with Odette de Crécy and is relatively short, it is generally considered a good introduction to the work and is often a set text in French schools. "Combray I" is also similarly excerpted; it ends with the famous "Madeleine cookie" episode, introducing the theme of involuntary memory.
In early 1914, André Gide, who had been involved in NRF's rejection of the book, wrote to Proust to apologize and to offer congratulations on the novel. "For several days I have been unable to put your book down.... The rejection of this book will remain the most serious mistake ever made by the NRF and, since I bear the shame of being very much responsible for it, one of the most stinging and remorseful regrets of my life" (Tadié, 611). Gallimard (the publishing arm of NRF) offered to publish the remaining volumes, but Proust chose to stay with Grasset.
Volume 2: À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs (1919), scheduled to be published in 1914, was delayed by the onset of World War I. At the same time, Grasset's firm was closed down when the publisher went into military service. This freed Proust to move to Gallimard, where all the subsequent volumes were published. Meanwhile, the novel kept growing in length and in conception.
À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs was awarded the Prix Goncourt in 1919.
Volume 3: Le Côté de Guermantes originally appeared as Le Côté de Guermantes I (1920) and Le Côté de Guermantes II (1921).
Volume 4: The first forty pages of Sodome et Gomorrhe initially appeared at the end of Le Côté de Guermantes II (Bouillaguet and Rogers, 942), the remainder appearing as Sodome et Gomorrhe I (1921) and Sodome et Gomorrhe II (1922). It was the last volume over which Proust supervised publication before his death in November 1922. The publication of the remaining volumes was carried out by his brother, Robert Proust, and Jacques Rivière.
Volume 5: La Prisonnière (1923), first volume of the section of the novel known as "le Roman d'Albertine" ("the Albertine novel"). The name "Albertine" first appears in Proust's notebooks in 1913. The material in these volumes was developed during the hiatus between the publication of Volumes 1 and 2, and they are a departure from the three-volume series announced by Proust in Du côté de chez Swann.
Volume 6: La Fugitive or Albertine disparue (1925) is the most editorially vexed volume. As noted, the final three volumes of the novel were published posthumously, and without Proust's final corrections and revisions. The first edition, based on Proust's manuscript, was published as Albertine disparue to prevent it from being confused with Rabindranath Tagore's La Fugitive (1921). The first authoritative edition of the novel in French (1954), also based on Proust's manuscript, used the title La Fugitive. The second, even more authoritative French edition (1987–89) uses the title Albertine disparue and is based on an unmarked typescript acquired in 1962 by the Bibliothèque Nationale. To complicate matters, after the death in 1986 of Proust's niece, Suzy Mante-Proust, her son-in-law discovered among her papers a typescript that had been corrected and annotated by Proust. The late changes Proust made include a small, crucial detail and the deletion of approximately 150 pages. This version was published as Albertine disparue in France in 1987.
Volume 7: Much of Le Temps retrouvé (1927) was written at the same time as Du côté de chez Swann, but was revised and expanded during the course of the novel's publication to account for, to a greater or lesser success, the then unforeseen material now contained in the middle volumes (Terdiman, 153n3). This volume includes a noteworthy episode describing Paris during the First World War.
Themes
A la Recherche made a decisive break with the 19th century realist and plot-driven novel, populated by people of action and people representing different social and cultural groups or moral issues. Although parts of the novel could be read as an exploration of snobbism, deceit, jealousy, and suffering and although it contains a multitude of realistic details, the focus is not on the development of a tight plot or of a coherent evolution, but on a multiplicity of perspectives and on the formation of the experience that will serve as the foundation for the novel itself. The leading characters of the first volume (the narrator as a boy and Swann) are, by the standards of 19th century novels of any kind, remarkably introspective and non-prone to decisive actions, or to trigger such actions from other leading characters; to many readers at the time, reared on Balzac, Hugo, and Tolstoy, they would not function as centers of a well-defined plot. And while there is a rich array of symbolism in the work, it is rarely defined through any explicit "keys" leading to moral, romantic or philosophical ideas. The significance of what is happening is often placed within the memory or in the inner contemplation of what is described. This focus on the relationship between experience, memory and writing, and the radical de-emphasizing of the outward plot, have become staples of the modern novel but were almost unheard of in 1913.
The role of memory is central to the novel, introduced with the famous madeleine episode in the first section of the novel, and in the last volume, Time Regained, a flashback similar to that caused by the madeleine is the beginning of the resolution of the story. Throughout the work many similar instances of involuntary memory, triggered by sensory experiences such as sights, sounds, smells, and so on, conjure important memories for the narrator, and sometimes return attention to an earlier episode of the novel. Although Proust wrote contemporaneously with Sigmund Freud, with there being many points of similarity between their thought on the structures and mechanisms of the human mind, neither author read a word of the other's work (Bragg). Gilles Deleuze, by contrast, believed that the main focus of Proust was not memory and the past but the narrator's learning the use of "signs" to understand—and communicate—ultimate reality, and thereby becoming an artist. While Proust was bitterly aware of the experience of loss and exclusion - loss of loved ones, loss of affection, friendship, and innocent joy, which are dramatized in the novel through recurrent jealousy, betrayal and the death of loved persons - his response to this, formulated after he had discovered Ruskin, was that the work of art can recapture the lost and thus save it from destruction, at least in our minds: thus art triumphs over the destructive power of time. This element of his artistic philosophy is clearly inherited from romantic platonism, but Proust crosses it with a new intensity in describing jealousy, desire and self-doubt. (on that matter see the last quatrain of Baudelaire's poem "Une Charogne": "Then, O my beauty! say to the worms who will Devour you with kisses, That I have kept the form and the divine essence Of my decomposed love!")
The nature of art is another recurring topic in the novel, and is often explored at great length. Proust sets forth a theory of art in which we are all capable of producing art, if by this we mean taking the experiences of life and transforming them in a way that shows understanding and maturity. Writing, painting and music are also discussed at great length. Morel the violinist, for example, is examined to give an example of a certain type of "artistic" character, along with other fictional artists, namely the novelist Bergotte and painter Elstir.
Homosexuality is another major theme, particularly in later volumes, most notably in Sodom and Gomorrah, the first part of which consists of a detailed account of a sexual encounter between two of the novel's male characters. Though the narrator himself is heterosexual, he invariably suspects his lovers of liaisons with other women, in a repetition of the suspicions held by Charles Swann in the first volume, with regards to his mistress and eventual wife, Odette. Several characters are forthrightly homosexual, like the Baron de Charlus, while others, such as the narrator's good friend Robert de Saint-Loup, are only later revealed to be far more closeted.
There is much debate as to how great a bearing Proust's own sexual inclination has on understanding these aspects of the novel. Although many of Proust's close family and friends suspected that he was homosexual, Proust never openly admitted this. It was only after Proust's death that André Gide, in his publication of correspondence between himself and Proust, made public Proust's homosexuality. The true nature of Proust's intimate relations with such individuals as Alfred Agostinelli and Reynaldo Hahn are well documented, though Proust was not "out and proud," except perhaps in close knit social circles. In 1949, the critic Justin O'Brien published an article in the PMLA called "Albertine the Ambiguous: Notes on Proust's Transposition of Sexes" which proposed that some female characters are best understood as actually referring to young men. Strip off the feminine ending of the names of the Narrator's lovers—Albertine, Gilberte, Andrée—and one has their masculine counterpart. This theory has become known as the "transposition of sexes theory" in Proust criticism, which in turn has been challenged in Epistemology of the Closet (1992) by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick.
Critical reception
In Search of Lost Time is considered the definitive Modern novel by many scholars, and it had a profound effect on subsequent writers such as the Bloomsbury Group. "Oh if I could write like that!" marveled Virginia Woolf in 1922 (2:525). Proust's influence on Evelyn Waugh is manifest in A Handful of Dust (1934) in which Waugh entitles Chapter 1 "Du Cote de Chez Beaver" and Chapter 6 "Du Cote de Chez Tod." More recently, literary critic Harold Bloom wrote that In Search of Lost Time is now "widely recognized as the major novel of the twentieth century." Vladimir Nabokov, in a 1965 interview, named the greatest prose works of the 20th century as, in order, "Joyce's Ulysses, Kafka's The Metamorphosis, Biely's Petersburg, and the first half of Proust's fairy tale In Search of Lost Time." J. Peder Zane's book The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books, collates 125 "top 10 greatest books of all time" lists by prominent living writers; In Search of Lost Time places eighth. In the 1960s, Swedish literary critic Bengt Holmqvist dubbed the novel "at once the last great classic of French epic prose tradition and the towering precursor of the 'nouveau roman'", indicating the sixties vogue of new, experimental French prose but also, by extension, other post-war attempts to fuse different planes of location, temporality and fragmented consciousness within the same novel.
Since the publication in 1992 of a revised English translation by The Modern Library, based on a new definitive French edition (1987–89), interest in Proust's novel in the English-speaking world has increased. Two substantial new biographies have appeared in English, by Edmund White and William C. Carter, and at least two books about the experience of reading Proust have appeared, by Alain de Botton and Phyllis Rose. The Proust Society of America, founded in 1997, now has three chapters: at The Mercantile Library of New York City, the Mechanic's Institute Library in San Francisco, and the Boston Athenæum Library. The French phenomenologist, Merleau-Ponty, frequently refers to Swann's Way to help elucidate his own ideas.
Main characters
Proust - Personnages
Main characters - Family tree
The Narrator's household
* The narrator: A sensitive young man who wishes to become a writer, whose identity is explicitly kept vague. In volume 5, The Prisoner, he addresses the reader thus: "Now she began to speak; her first words were 'darling' or 'my darling,' followed by my Christian name, which, if we give the narrator the same name as the author of this book, would produce 'darling Marcel' or 'my darling Marcel.'" (Proust, 64)
* Bathilde Amédée: The narrator's grandmother. Her life and death greatly influence her daughter and grandson.
* Françoise: The narrator's faithful, stubborn maid.
The Guermantes
* Palamède de Guermantes (Baron de Charlus): An aristocratic, decadent aesthete with many antisocial habits.
* Oriane de Guermantes (Duchesse de Guermantes): The toast of Paris' high society. She lives in the fashionable Faubourg St. Germain.
* Robert de Saint-Loup: An army officer and the narrator's best friend. Despite his patrician birth (he is the nephew of M. de Guermantes) and affluent lifestyle, Saint-Loup has no great fortune of his own until he marries Gilberte.
The Swanns
* Charles Swann: A friend of the narrator's family. His political views on the Dreyfus Affair and marriage to Odette ostracize him from much of high society.
* Odette de Crécy: A beautiful Parisian courtesan. Odette is also referred to as Mme Swann, the woman in pink/white, and in the final volume, Mme de Forcheville.
* Gilberte Swann: The daughter of Swann and Odette. She takes the name of her adopted father, M. de Forcheville, after Swann's death, and then becomes Mme de Saint-Loup following her marriage to Robert de Saint-Loup, which joins Swann's Way and the Guermantes Way.
Artists
* Elstir: A famous painter whose renditions of sea and sky echo the novel's theme of the mutability of human life.
* Bergotte: A well-known writer whose works the narrator has admired since childhood.
* Vinteuil: An obscure musician who gains posthumous recognition for composing a beautiful, evocative sonata.
* Berma
Others
* Charles Morel: The son of a former servant of the narrator's uncle and a gifted violinist. He profits greatly from the patronage of the Baron de Charlus and later Robert de Saint-Loup.
* Albertine Simonet: A privileged orphan of average beauty and intelligence. The narrator's romance with her is the subject of much of the novel.
* Sidonie Verdurin: A poseur who rises to the top of society through inheritance, marriage, and sheer single-mindedness. Often referred to simply as Mme. Verdurin.
Publication in English
The first six volumes were first translated into English by the Scotsman C. K. Scott Moncrieff between 1922 and his death in 1930 under the title Remembrance of Things Past, a phrase taken from Shakespeare's Sonnet 30; this was the first translation of the Recherche into another language. The final volume, Le Temps retrouvé, was initially published in English in the UK as Time Regained (1931), translated by Stephen Hudson (a pseudonym of Sydney Schiff), and in the US as The Past Recaptured (1932) in a translation by Frederick Blossom. Although cordial with Scott Moncrieff, Proust grudgingly remarked in a letter that Remembrance eliminated the correspondence between Temps perdu and Temps retrouvé (Painter, 352). Terence Kilmartin revised the Scott Moncrieff translation in 1981, using the new French edition of 1954. An additional revision by D.J. Enright - that is, a revision of a revision - was published by the Modern Library in 1992. It is based on the latest and most authoritative French text (1987–89), and rendered the title of the novel more literally as In Search of Lost Time. In 1995, Penguin undertook a fresh translation of In Search of Lost Time by editor Christopher Prendergast and seven different translators, one Australian, one American, and the others English. Based on the authoritative French text (of 1987-98), it was published in six volumes in Britain under the Allen Lane imprint in 2002. The first four (those which under American copyright law are in the public domain) have since been published in the US under the Viking imprint and in paperback under the Penguin Classics imprint. The remaining volumes are scheduled to come out in 2018.
Both the Modern Library and Penguin translations provide a detailed plot synopsis at the end of each volume. The last volume of the Modern Library edition, Time Regained, also includes Kilmartin's "A Guide to Proust," an index of the novel's characters, persons, places, and themes. The Modern Library volumes include a handful of endnotes, and alternative versions of some of the novel's famous episodes. The Penguin volumes each provide an extensive set of brief, non-scholarly endnotes that help identify cultural references perhaps unfamiliar to contemporary English readers. Reviews which discuss the merits of both translations can be found online at the Observer, the Telegraph, The New York Review of Books (subscription only), The New York Times, TempsPerdu.com, and Reading Proust.
English-language translations in print
* In Search of Lost Time (General Editor: Christopher Prendergast), translated by Lydia Davis, Mark Treharne, James Grieve, John Sturrock, Carol Clark, Peter Collier, & Ian Patterson. London: Allen Lane, 2002 (6 vols). Based on the most recent definitive French edition (1987–89), except The Fugitive, which is based on the 1954 definitive French edition. The first four volumes have been published in New York by Viking, 2003–2004, but the Copyright Term Extension Act will delay the rest of the project until 2018.
o (Volume titles: The Way by Swann's (in the U.S., Swann's Way) ISBN 0-14-243796-4; In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower ISBN 0-14-303907-5; The Guermantes Way ISBN 0-14-303922-9; Sodom and Gomorrah ISBN 0-14-303931-8; The Prisoner; and The Fugitive — Finding Time Again.)
* In Search of Lost Time, translated by C. K. Scott-Moncrieff, Terence Kilmartin and Andreas Mayor (Vol. 7). Revised by D.J. Enright. London: Chatto and Windus, New York: The Modern Library, 1992. Based on the most recent definitive French edition (1987–89). ISBN 0-8129-6964-2
o (Volume titles: Swann's Way — Within a Budding Grove — The Guermantes Way — Sodom and Gomorrah — The Captive — The Fugitive — Time Regained.)
* A Search for Lost Time: Swann's Way, translated by James Grieve. Canberra: Australian National University, 1982 ISBN 0-7081-1317-6
* Remembrance of Things Past, translated by C. K. Scott Moncrieff, Terence Kilmartin, and Andreas Mayor (Vol. 7). New York: Random House, 1981 (3 vols). ISBN 0-394-71243-9
o (Published in three volumes: Swann's Way — Within a Budding Grove; The Guermantes Way — Cities of the Plain; The Captive — The Fugitive — Time Regained.)
Adaptations
Print
* The Proust Screenplay, a film adaptation by Harold Pinter published in 1978 (never filmed).
* Remembrance of Things Past, Part One: Combray; Part Two: Within a Budding Grove, vol.1; Part Three: Within a Budding Grove, vol.2; and Part Four: Un amour de Swann, vol.1 are graphic novel adaptations by Stéphane Heuet.
* Albertine, a novel based on a rewriting of Albertine by Jacqueline Rose. Vintage UK, 2002.
Screen
* Swann in Love (Un Amour de Swann), a 1984 film by Volker Schlöndorff starring Jeremy Irons and Ornella Muti.
* Time Regained (Le Temps retrouvé), a 1999 film by Raul Ruiz starring Catherine Deneuve, Emmanuelle Béart, and John Malkovich.
* La Captive, a 2000 film by Chantal Akerman.
* Quartetto Basileus (1982) uses segments from Sodom and Gomorrah and Time Regained. Le Intermittenze del cuore (2003) concerns a director working on a movie about Proust's life. Both from Italian director Fabio Capri.
Stage
* A Waste of Time, by Philip Prowse and Robert David MacDonald. A 4 hour long adaptation with a huge cast. Dir. by Philip Prowse at the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre in 1980, revived 1981 plus European tour.
* Remembrance of Things Past, by Harold Pinter and Di Trevis, based on Pinter's The Proust Screenplay. Dir. by Trevis (who had acted in A Waste of Time - see above) at the Royal National Theatre in 2000.
* Eleven Rooms of Proust, adapted and directed by Mary Zimmerman. A series of 11 vignettes from In Search of Lost Time, staged throughout an abandoned factory in Chicago.
* My Life With Albertine, a 2003 Off-Broadway musical with book by Richard Nelson, music by Ricky Ian Gordon, and lyrics by both.
Radio
* In Search of Lost Time dramatised by Michael Butt for the The Classic Serial, broadcast between February 6, 2005 and March 13, 2005. Starring James Wilby, it condensed the entire series into six episodes. Although considerably shortened, it received excellent reviews .
多捲集長篇巨着《追憶逝水年華》是法國作傢馬塞爾.普魯斯特(1871-1922)的代表作，全書共七部，十五捲，從1905年開始創作，至作者逝世前全部完成。小說的第一部《通往斯萬傢的路》於1913年問世，但反應冷淡，一些有名的出版社都不願出版，作者便自費印行。後來《通往斯萬傢的路》逐漸獲得文藝界的贊賞。於是，各大出版社竟相與普魯斯特簽訂合同，以求取得出版這部多捲集的其餘幾部作品的權利。不久，第一次世界大戰爆發，出版工作被擱置下來。戰爭結束後，小說的第二部《在花枝招展的少女們身旁》於1919年出版，獲龔古爾文學奬，普魯斯特名聲大振。此後，小說的第三部《蓋爾芒傢》和第四部《索多姆和郭穆爾》相繼於1921和1922年出版，最後三部《女囚犯》(1923)，《逃亡者》(1925)，和《昔日再現》(1927) 則是普魯斯特逝世後纔出版的。
目錄
第一部 在斯萬傢那邊
追憶似水年華追憶似水年華
>第一捲 貢布雷
>>第一章
>>第二章
>第二捲 斯萬之戀
>第三捲 地名：那個姓氏
第二部 在少女們身旁
>第一捲 斯萬夫人周圍
>第二捲 地名：地方
第三部 蓋爾芒特傢那邊
>第一捲
>第二捲
>>第一章
>>第二章
第四部
>第一捲
>第二捲
>>第一章
>>第二章
>>第三章
>>第四章
第五部 女囚
第六部 女逃亡者
第七部 重現的時光
《追憶逝水年華》是一部與傳統小說不同的長篇小說。全書以敘述者“我”為主體，將其所見所聞所思所感融合一體，既有對社會生活，人情世態的真實描寫，又是一份作者自我追求，自我認識的內心經歷的記錄。除敘事以外，還包含有大量的感想和議論。整部作品沒有中心人物，沒有完整的故事，沒有波瀾起伏，貫穿始終的情節綫索。它大體以敘述者的生活經歷和內心活動為軸心，穿插描寫了大量的人物事件，猶如一棵枝丫交錯的大樹，可以說是在一部主要小說上派生着許多獨立成篇的其他小說，也可以說是一部交織着好幾個主題麯的巨大交響樂。
小說中的敘述者“我”是一個傢境富裕而又體弱多病的青年，從小對書畫有特殊的愛好，曾經嘗試過文學創作，沒有成功。他經常出入巴黎的上層社會，頻繁往來於各茶會，舞會，招待會及其它時髦的社交場合，並鐘情於猶太富商的女兒吉爾伯特，但不久就失戀了。此外，他還到過家乡貢柏萊小住，到過海濱勝地巴培剋療養。他結識了另一位少女阿爾伯蒂，發現阿爾伯蒂患同性戀，便决心娶她為妻，以糾正她的變態心理。他把阿爾伯蒂禁閉在自己傢中，阿爾伯蒂卻設法逃跑，於是，他多方打聽她，尋找她，後來得知阿爾伯蒂騎馬摔死。在悲痛中他認識到自己的稟賦是寫作，他所經歷的悲歡苦樂正是文學創作的材料，衹有文學創作才能把昔日失去的東西找回來。
在小說中，敘述者“我”的生活經歷並不占全書的主要篇幅。作者通過故事套故事，故事與故事交叉重迭的方法，描寫了衆多的人物事件，展示了一幅19世紀與20世紀之交法國上流社會的生活圖景。這裏有姿色迷人，談吐高雅而又無聊庸俗的蓋爾芒夫人，有道德墮落，行為仇惡的變性人查琉斯男爵，有縱情聲色的浪蕩公子斯萬等等。此外，小說還描寫了一些於上流社會有關聯的作傢，藝術傢，他們大都生前落魄失意，而作品卻永世長存。小說還描寫了一些下層的勞動者。《追憶逝水年華》這部長篇巨着通過上千個人物的活動，冷靜，真實，細緻地再現了法國上流社會的生活習俗，人情世態。因此有些西方評論傢把它與巴爾紮剋的《人間喜劇》相提並論，稱之為“風流喜劇”。
《追憶逝水年華》是一部有獨特風格的長篇小說，他不僅再現了客觀世界，同時也展現了敘述者的主觀世界，記錄了敘述者對客觀世界的內心感受。作者感興趣的不是敘述故事，交代情節和刻畫人物形象，而是抒發自己對某一問題的感想和分析。例如，敘述者參加了蓋爾芒公爵傢的一次晚宴，這使他長期以來對貴族的種種幻想頓時破滅，他意識到過去對他有魅力的衹是名稱，而不是真實的世界。整部作品對外部世界的描述同敘述者對它的感受，思考，分析渾然一體，又互相引發，互相充實，從而形成了物從我出，物中有我，物我合一的藝術境界。
《追憶逝水年華》這部長篇，除了第一部中關於斯萬的戀愛故事采用第三人稱描寫手法外，其餘都是通過第一人稱敘述出來的，敘述者“我”的回憶是貫穿全書的重要藝術表現方式。小說開捲，“我”從床上醒來，在夢幻般的狀態中千思百想集於心頭。這時，由於一杯茶和一塊點心的觸發，使他回憶起小時候在姑媽萊奧妮傢生活的情景。這不僅引出了敘述者的家庭身世和個人經歷，還引出了蓋爾芒和斯萬兩大傢族，引出了形形色色的人物事件，整部小說的內容就是通過敘述者的回憶嚮縱深發掘，逐步推進，最後完整地呈現出來。
《追憶逝水年華》共7部，15捲，其中包括《在斯旺傢那邊》（1913）、《在少女們身旁》（1919）、《蓋爾芒特傢那邊》（1921）、《索多姆與戈摩爾》（1922）和作者死後出版的《女囚》、《女逃亡者》和《重現的時光》。第一部《在斯旺傢那邊》，沒有得到文藝界的認可，第二部《在少女們身旁》（1919），獲龔古爾文學奬，從此名聲大振。
《追憶逝水年華》是一部巴爾紮剋《人間喜劇》那樣“規模宏大”的作品。小說的敘述者“我”是一個富於才華，喜愛文學藝術而又體弱多病的富傢子弟。作品透過主人公的追憶，表現了作者對家庭、童年和初戀時感情的懷念，對庸俗事物的厭惡，同時也反映了19世紀末20世紀初所謂“黃金時代”的法國巴黎上流社會的種種人情世態。
小說故事套故事，人物事件衆多。一方面是遵循法國舊傳統習慣的聖·日耳曼貴族、蓋爾芒特傢族的公爵和公爵夫人、蓋爾芒特親王和王妃、公爵的兄弟等。另一方面是新的資産階級暴發戶和活躍在沙竜裏的幫閑人物：斯旺及其情婦、交際花奧黛特、富裕而有文化教養的凡爾杜蘭夫婦、外交官、醫生、藝術傢等。兩個對立的社會，原來並不融洽，資産階級很難跨進古老貴族的門廳。但是隨着時間的推移和復雜的聯姻關係，鴻溝逐漸被打破。斯旺死後，奧黛特成了蓋爾芒特公爵的情婦。凡爾杜蘭太太過去不被貴族傢所接納，現在成了親王夫人。作者在貴族閉塞和悠閑的世外桃源中窺視到了衰敗景象，從大資産階級庸俗狂妄中看到了一種畸形社會的畫面。雖然作者在描繪這種種畫面時，並沒有用尖銳的譴責之詞，但從他筆鋒轉嚮下層人民時所表現出的好感中，又能體味到他的褒貶之意。那個在上層人傢服務多年的老女僕弗朗索瓦茲，雖然滿口鄉下土話，腦子裏有不少迷信和禁忌，但她勤勞、純樸，有着鄉下人的聰明機智，是作者最喜愛的人物之一。小說除了描寫上流社會的生活外，還涉及到文學、繪畫、音樂、建築，以及第一次世界大戰等諸多方面的內容。
《追憶逝水年華》是一部回憶錄式的自傳體小說，但沒有傳統回憶錄那樣對往事有條理的整理和分析，而是通過一個“非常神經質和過分受溺愛的孩子”對自己“緩慢成長過程”的追憶，漸漸地“意識”到自己周圍人們的“存在”。作者衹是捕捉自己心頭留下並時時浮現在腦際的印象，然後加以展現。對他來說，事情發生的先後沒有意義，現實從回憶中形成，通過回憶，既認識到現實世界，也認識到“自我”的存在。兒時早晨起來喝熱茶時一塊俗名叫“瑪德萊娜”的甜糕點泡在茶裏，邊喝邊吃點心所感到的樂處，在最後一捲《重現的時光》重提時，“今”與“昔”的回憶已同時出現在作者腦海裏。通過回憶，他解除了“時間”的束縛，獲得了過去、現在的重疊和交叉，形成了特殊的回憶結構。
作品的敘述角度明顯區別於傳統小說。作者說：“在我們幼小時，我覺得聖書上任何人物和命運都沒有像諾亞那樣悲慘，他因洪水泛濫，不得不在方舟裏度過四十天，後來，我時常臥病，迫不得已成年纍月地呆在方舟裏過活。這時我纔明白，儘管諾亞方舟緊閉着，茫茫黑夜鎮住大地，但是諾亞從方舟裏看世界是再透徹不過了。”作者也不是站在事物的外部觀察世界，而是將客觀世界溶入內心，然後再表現出來。他通過對內心世界的探索來發現外部世界，從意識洪流中認識外部世界的價值。作品的人稱也有異於傳統小說。作品中的“我”並不是傳統小說中的第一人稱，他衹是一個穿針引綫的人物，通過“我”的觀察、感受引出其他人物和繪成絢麗多姿的畫面。普魯斯特雖然是現代派作傢，但他的語言風格深受蒙田、塞維尼夫人和聖·西蒙等法國古典作傢的影響，有着曠達、高雅、細膩、婉轉的特點。
法國著名傳記文學家兼評論傢A·莫羅亞（1885—1967）在1954年巴黎伽裏瑪出版社出版的《七星叢書》本的《追憶逝水年華》序言中寫道：“一九○○年至一九五○年這五十年中，除了《追憶逝水年華》之外，沒有別的值得永志不忘的小說巨著。不僅由於普魯斯特的作品和巴爾紮剋的作品一樣篇帙浩繁，因為也有人寫過十五捲甚至二十捲的巨型小說，而且有時也寫得文采動人，然而他們並不給我們發現 ‘新大陸’或包羅萬象的感覺。這些作傢滿足於挖掘早已為人所知的‘礦脈’，而馬塞爾·普魯斯特則發現了新的‘礦藏’。”這也是強調《追憶逝水年華》的藝術優點就在於一個“新”字。然而藝術發展的客觀規律並不在於單純的創新，也不在於為創新而創新，更不在於對於傳統的優秀藝術傳統采取虛無主義的態度，從零開始的創新。創新是藝術的靈魂，然而創新絶不是輕而易舉的，絶不是盲目的幻想。《追憶逝水年華》的創新是在傳統的優秀藝術基礎上的發展。
法國詩人P·瓦萊裏（1871—1945）和著名評論傢、教授A·蒂博岱（1874—1936）都在他們的評論中誇奬《追憶逝水年華》的藝術風格繼承了法國文學的優秀傳統。紀德和蒂博岱都提到普魯斯特和十六世紀的偉大散文作傢蒙田（1533—1592）在文風的曠達和高雅方面，似乎有一脈相承之妙。還有別的評論傢甚至特意提到普魯斯特受法國著名的回憶錄作傢聖·西蒙（1675—1755）的影響。
《追憶逝水年華》的作者逐漸構思這部小說大致在上世紀末年和本世紀初年。一九○七年他下定决心要創作這部小說，一九○八年他開始動筆，到一九二二年他去世前夕，匆匆寫完最後一捲《重現的時光》。普魯斯特創作《追憶逝水年華》的十餘年間，完全禁閉在鬥室中，與世隔絶。他全部精力與時間集中在回憶與寫作上，毫不關心世事，所以第一次世界大戰以及它對法國人民生活的強烈影響，在《追憶逝水年華》中幾乎毫無反映。這部小說中反映的巴黎是十九世紀八、九十年代的巴黎。十九世紀末葉是法蘭西資本主義逐漸由壟斷資本進入帝國主義的過程。二十世紀初年，法國資本主義已經達到最高階段，即帝國主義階段。在這時期，法國社會出現了物質生活方面的極大繁榮。1900年巴黎舉辦震動全球的“世界博覽會”，就表現出烜赫一時的繁榮景象。凡此種種，都沒有引起在鬥室中埋頭寫作的普魯斯特註意。由此可見，就其所反映的社會生活而言，《追憶逝水年華》是十九世紀末年的小說，是反映臨近巨大的變革與轉折點時刻的法國社會的小說，因此可以說也是一部反映舊時代的小說。《似水年華》是法國傳統小說藝術的最後一顆碩果，最後一朵奇葩，最後一座偉大的里程碑。
The novel as we know it began seriously to take shape in 1909, and work continued for the remainder of Proust's life, broken off only by his final illness and death in the autumn of 1922. The main overarching structure was in place at an early stage, and the novel is effectively complete as a work of art and a literary cosmos, but Proust kept adding new material through his final years while editing one time after another for print; the final three volumes actually contain oversights and fragmentary or unpolished passages which only existed in draft form at the death of the author; the publication of these parts was overseen by his brother Robert.
The work was published in France between 1913 and 1927; Proust paid for the publication of the first volume (by the Grasset publishing house) himself after it had been turned down by leading editors who had been offered the manuscript in longhand. Many of its ideas, motifs, and scenes appear in adumbrated form in Proust's unfinished novel, Jean Santeuil (1896–99), though the perspective and treatment there are different, and in his unfinished hybrid of philosophical essay and story, Contre Sainte-Beuve (1908–09). The novel has had a pervasive influence on twentieth-century literature, whether because writers have sought to emulate it, or attempted to parody and discredit some of its traits. In his work, Proust explores the themes of time, space, and memory, but the novel is above all a condensation of innumerable literary, structural, stylistic, and thematic possibilities.
Initial publication
Although different editions divide the work into a varying number of tomes, A la recherche du temps perdu or In Search of Lost Time is a novel consisting of seven volumes.
Vol. French titles Published English titles
1 Du côté de chez Swann 1913 Swann's Way
The Way by Swann's
2 À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs 1919 Within a Budding Grove
In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower
3 Le Côté de Guermantes
(published in two volumes) 1920/21 The Guermantes Way
4 Sodome et Gomorrhe
(published in two volumes) 1921/22 Cities of the Plain
Sodom and Gomorrah
5 La Prisonnière 1923 The Captive
The Prisoner
6 La Fugitive
Albertine disparue 1925 The Fugitive
The Sweet Cheat Gone
Albertine Gone
7 Le Temps retrouvé 1927 The Past Recaptured
Time Regained
Finding Time Again
Volume 1: Du côté de chez Swann (1913) was rejected by a number of publishers, including Fasquelle, Ollendorf, and the Nouvelle Revue Française (NRF). André Gide famously was given the manuscript to read to advise NRF on publication, and leafing through the seemingly endless collection of memories and philosophizing or melancholic episodes, came across a few minor syntactic bloopers, which made him decide to turn the work down in his audit. Proust eventually arranged with the publisher Grasset to pay for the costs of publication himself. When published it was advertised as the first of a three-volume novel (Bouillaguet and Rogers, 316-7).
Du côté de chez Swann is divided into four parts: "Combray I" (sometimes referred to in English as the "Overture"), "Combray II," "Un Amour de Swann," and "Noms de pays: le nom." ('Names of places: the name'). A third-person novella within Du côté de chez Swann, "Un Amour de Swann" is sometimes published as a volume by itself. As it forms the self-contained story of Charles Swann's love affair with Odette de Crécy and is relatively short, it is generally considered a good introduction to the work and is often a set text in French schools. "Combray I" is also similarly excerpted; it ends with the famous "Madeleine cookie" episode, introducing the theme of involuntary memory.
In early 1914, André Gide, who had been involved in NRF's rejection of the book, wrote to Proust to apologize and to offer congratulations on the novel. "For several days I have been unable to put your book down.... The rejection of this book will remain the most serious mistake ever made by the NRF and, since I bear the shame of being very much responsible for it, one of the most stinging and remorseful regrets of my life" (Tadié, 611). Gallimard (the publishing arm of NRF) offered to publish the remaining volumes, but Proust chose to stay with Grasset.
Volume 2: À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs (1919), scheduled to be published in 1914, was delayed by the onset of World War I. At the same time, Grasset's firm was closed down when the publisher went into military service. This freed Proust to move to Gallimard, where all the subsequent volumes were published. Meanwhile, the novel kept growing in length and in conception.
À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs was awarded the Prix Goncourt in 1919.
Volume 3: Le Côté de Guermantes originally appeared as Le Côté de Guermantes I (1920) and Le Côté de Guermantes II (1921).
Volume 4: The first forty pages of Sodome et Gomorrhe initially appeared at the end of Le Côté de Guermantes II (Bouillaguet and Rogers, 942), the remainder appearing as Sodome et Gomorrhe I (1921) and Sodome et Gomorrhe II (1922). It was the last volume over which Proust supervised publication before his death in November 1922. The publication of the remaining volumes was carried out by his brother, Robert Proust, and Jacques Rivière.
Volume 5: La Prisonnière (1923), first volume of the section of the novel known as "le Roman d'Albertine" ("the Albertine novel"). The name "Albertine" first appears in Proust's notebooks in 1913. The material in these volumes was developed during the hiatus between the publication of Volumes 1 and 2, and they are a departure from the three-volume series announced by Proust in Du côté de chez Swann.
Volume 6: La Fugitive or Albertine disparue (1925) is the most editorially vexed volume. As noted, the final three volumes of the novel were published posthumously, and without Proust's final corrections and revisions. The first edition, based on Proust's manuscript, was published as Albertine disparue to prevent it from being confused with Rabindranath Tagore's La Fugitive (1921). The first authoritative edition of the novel in French (1954), also based on Proust's manuscript, used the title La Fugitive. The second, even more authoritative French edition (1987–89) uses the title Albertine disparue and is based on an unmarked typescript acquired in 1962 by the Bibliothèque Nationale. To complicate matters, after the death in 1986 of Proust's niece, Suzy Mante-Proust, her son-in-law discovered among her papers a typescript that had been corrected and annotated by Proust. The late changes Proust made include a small, crucial detail and the deletion of approximately 150 pages. This version was published as Albertine disparue in France in 1987.
Volume 7: Much of Le Temps retrouvé (1927) was written at the same time as Du côté de chez Swann, but was revised and expanded during the course of the novel's publication to account for, to a greater or lesser success, the then unforeseen material now contained in the middle volumes (Terdiman, 153n3). This volume includes a noteworthy episode describing Paris during the First World War.
Themes
A la Recherche made a decisive break with the 19th century realist and plot-driven novel, populated by people of action and people representing different social and cultural groups or moral issues. Although parts of the novel could be read as an exploration of snobbism, deceit, jealousy, and suffering and although it contains a multitude of realistic details, the focus is not on the development of a tight plot or of a coherent evolution, but on a multiplicity of perspectives and on the formation of the experience that will serve as the foundation for the novel itself. The leading characters of the first volume (the narrator as a boy and Swann) are, by the standards of 19th century novels of any kind, remarkably introspective and non-prone to decisive actions, or to trigger such actions from other leading characters; to many readers at the time, reared on Balzac, Hugo, and Tolstoy, they would not function as centers of a well-defined plot. And while there is a rich array of symbolism in the work, it is rarely defined through any explicit "keys" leading to moral, romantic or philosophical ideas. The significance of what is happening is often placed within the memory or in the inner contemplation of what is described. This focus on the relationship between experience, memory and writing, and the radical de-emphasizing of the outward plot, have become staples of the modern novel but were almost unheard of in 1913.
The role of memory is central to the novel, introduced with the famous madeleine episode in the first section of the novel, and in the last volume, Time Regained, a flashback similar to that caused by the madeleine is the beginning of the resolution of the story. Throughout the work many similar instances of involuntary memory, triggered by sensory experiences such as sights, sounds, smells, and so on, conjure important memories for the narrator, and sometimes return attention to an earlier episode of the novel. Although Proust wrote contemporaneously with Sigmund Freud, with there being many points of similarity between their thought on the structures and mechanisms of the human mind, neither author read a word of the other's work (Bragg). Gilles Deleuze, by contrast, believed that the main focus of Proust was not memory and the past but the narrator's learning the use of "signs" to understand—and communicate—ultimate reality, and thereby becoming an artist. While Proust was bitterly aware of the experience of loss and exclusion - loss of loved ones, loss of affection, friendship, and innocent joy, which are dramatized in the novel through recurrent jealousy, betrayal and the death of loved persons - his response to this, formulated after he had discovered Ruskin, was that the work of art can recapture the lost and thus save it from destruction, at least in our minds: thus art triumphs over the destructive power of time. This element of his artistic philosophy is clearly inherited from romantic platonism, but Proust crosses it with a new intensity in describing jealousy, desire and self-doubt. (on that matter see the last quatrain of Baudelaire's poem "Une Charogne": "Then, O my beauty! say to the worms who will Devour you with kisses, That I have kept the form and the divine essence Of my decomposed love!")
The nature of art is another recurring topic in the novel, and is often explored at great length. Proust sets forth a theory of art in which we are all capable of producing art, if by this we mean taking the experiences of life and transforming them in a way that shows understanding and maturity. Writing, painting and music are also discussed at great length. Morel the violinist, for example, is examined to give an example of a certain type of "artistic" character, along with other fictional artists, namely the novelist Bergotte and painter Elstir.
Homosexuality is another major theme, particularly in later volumes, most notably in Sodom and Gomorrah, the first part of which consists of a detailed account of a sexual encounter between two of the novel's male characters. Though the narrator himself is heterosexual, he invariably suspects his lovers of liaisons with other women, in a repetition of the suspicions held by Charles Swann in the first volume, with regards to his mistress and eventual wife, Odette. Several characters are forthrightly homosexual, like the Baron de Charlus, while others, such as the narrator's good friend Robert de Saint-Loup, are only later revealed to be far more closeted.
There is much debate as to how great a bearing Proust's own sexual inclination has on understanding these aspects of the novel. Although many of Proust's close family and friends suspected that he was homosexual, Proust never openly admitted this. It was only after Proust's death that André Gide, in his publication of correspondence between himself and Proust, made public Proust's homosexuality. The true nature of Proust's intimate relations with such individuals as Alfred Agostinelli and Reynaldo Hahn are well documented, though Proust was not "out and proud," except perhaps in close knit social circles. In 1949, the critic Justin O'Brien published an article in the PMLA called "Albertine the Ambiguous: Notes on Proust's Transposition of Sexes" which proposed that some female characters are best understood as actually referring to young men. Strip off the feminine ending of the names of the Narrator's lovers—Albertine, Gilberte, Andrée—and one has their masculine counterpart. This theory has become known as the "transposition of sexes theory" in Proust criticism, which in turn has been challenged in Epistemology of the Closet (1992) by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick.
Critical reception
In Search of Lost Time is considered the definitive Modern novel by many scholars, and it had a profound effect on subsequent writers such as the Bloomsbury Group. "Oh if I could write like that!" marveled Virginia Woolf in 1922 (2:525). Proust's influence on Evelyn Waugh is manifest in A Handful of Dust (1934) in which Waugh entitles Chapter 1 "Du Cote de Chez Beaver" and Chapter 6 "Du Cote de Chez Tod." More recently, literary critic Harold Bloom wrote that In Search of Lost Time is now "widely recognized as the major novel of the twentieth century." Vladimir Nabokov, in a 1965 interview, named the greatest prose works of the 20th century as, in order, "Joyce's Ulysses, Kafka's The Metamorphosis, Biely's Petersburg, and the first half of Proust's fairy tale In Search of Lost Time." J. Peder Zane's book The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books, collates 125 "top 10 greatest books of all time" lists by prominent living writers; In Search of Lost Time places eighth. In the 1960s, Swedish literary critic Bengt Holmqvist dubbed the novel "at once the last great classic of French epic prose tradition and the towering precursor of the 'nouveau roman'", indicating the sixties vogue of new, experimental French prose but also, by extension, other post-war attempts to fuse different planes of location, temporality and fragmented consciousness within the same novel.
Since the publication in 1992 of a revised English translation by The Modern Library, based on a new definitive French edition (1987–89), interest in Proust's novel in the English-speaking world has increased. Two substantial new biographies have appeared in English, by Edmund White and William C. Carter, and at least two books about the experience of reading Proust have appeared, by Alain de Botton and Phyllis Rose. The Proust Society of America, founded in 1997, now has three chapters: at The Mercantile Library of New York City, the Mechanic's Institute Library in San Francisco, and the Boston Athenæum Library. The French phenomenologist, Merleau-Ponty, frequently refers to Swann's Way to help elucidate his own ideas.
Main characters
Proust - Personnages
Main characters - Family tree
The Narrator's household
* The narrator: A sensitive young man who wishes to become a writer, whose identity is explicitly kept vague. In volume 5, The Prisoner, he addresses the reader thus: "Now she began to speak; her first words were 'darling' or 'my darling,' followed by my Christian name, which, if we give the narrator the same name as the author of this book, would produce 'darling Marcel' or 'my darling Marcel.'" (Proust, 64)
* Bathilde Amédée: The narrator's grandmother. Her life and death greatly influence her daughter and grandson.
* Françoise: The narrator's faithful, stubborn maid.
The Guermantes
* Palamède de Guermantes (Baron de Charlus): An aristocratic, decadent aesthete with many antisocial habits.
* Oriane de Guermantes (Duchesse de Guermantes): The toast of Paris' high society. She lives in the fashionable Faubourg St. Germain.
* Robert de Saint-Loup: An army officer and the narrator's best friend. Despite his patrician birth (he is the nephew of M. de Guermantes) and affluent lifestyle, Saint-Loup has no great fortune of his own until he marries Gilberte.
The Swanns
* Charles Swann: A friend of the narrator's family. His political views on the Dreyfus Affair and marriage to Odette ostracize him from much of high society.
* Odette de Crécy: A beautiful Parisian courtesan. Odette is also referred to as Mme Swann, the woman in pink/white, and in the final volume, Mme de Forcheville.
* Gilberte Swann: The daughter of Swann and Odette. She takes the name of her adopted father, M. de Forcheville, after Swann's death, and then becomes Mme de Saint-Loup following her marriage to Robert de Saint-Loup, which joins Swann's Way and the Guermantes Way.
Artists
* Elstir: A famous painter whose renditions of sea and sky echo the novel's theme of the mutability of human life.
* Bergotte: A well-known writer whose works the narrator has admired since childhood.
* Vinteuil: An obscure musician who gains posthumous recognition for composing a beautiful, evocative sonata.
* Berma
Others
* Charles Morel: The son of a former servant of the narrator's uncle and a gifted violinist. He profits greatly from the patronage of the Baron de Charlus and later Robert de Saint-Loup.
* Albertine Simonet: A privileged orphan of average beauty and intelligence. The narrator's romance with her is the subject of much of the novel.
* Sidonie Verdurin: A poseur who rises to the top of society through inheritance, marriage, and sheer single-mindedness. Often referred to simply as Mme. Verdurin.
Publication in English
The first six volumes were first translated into English by the Scotsman C. K. Scott Moncrieff between 1922 and his death in 1930 under the title Remembrance of Things Past, a phrase taken from Shakespeare's Sonnet 30; this was the first translation of the Recherche into another language. The final volume, Le Temps retrouvé, was initially published in English in the UK as Time Regained (1931), translated by Stephen Hudson (a pseudonym of Sydney Schiff), and in the US as The Past Recaptured (1932) in a translation by Frederick Blossom. Although cordial with Scott Moncrieff, Proust grudgingly remarked in a letter that Remembrance eliminated the correspondence between Temps perdu and Temps retrouvé (Painter, 352). Terence Kilmartin revised the Scott Moncrieff translation in 1981, using the new French edition of 1954. An additional revision by D.J. Enright - that is, a revision of a revision - was published by the Modern Library in 1992. It is based on the latest and most authoritative French text (1987–89), and rendered the title of the novel more literally as In Search of Lost Time. In 1995, Penguin undertook a fresh translation of In Search of Lost Time by editor Christopher Prendergast and seven different translators, one Australian, one American, and the others English. Based on the authoritative French text (of 1987-98), it was published in six volumes in Britain under the Allen Lane imprint in 2002. The first four (those which under American copyright law are in the public domain) have since been published in the US under the Viking imprint and in paperback under the Penguin Classics imprint. The remaining volumes are scheduled to come out in 2018.
Both the Modern Library and Penguin translations provide a detailed plot synopsis at the end of each volume. The last volume of the Modern Library edition, Time Regained, also includes Kilmartin's "A Guide to Proust," an index of the novel's characters, persons, places, and themes. The Modern Library volumes include a handful of endnotes, and alternative versions of some of the novel's famous episodes. The Penguin volumes each provide an extensive set of brief, non-scholarly endnotes that help identify cultural references perhaps unfamiliar to contemporary English readers. Reviews which discuss the merits of both translations can be found online at the Observer, the Telegraph, The New York Review of Books (subscription only), The New York Times, TempsPerdu.com, and Reading Proust.
English-language translations in print
* In Search of Lost Time (General Editor: Christopher Prendergast), translated by Lydia Davis, Mark Treharne, James Grieve, John Sturrock, Carol Clark, Peter Collier, & Ian Patterson. London: Allen Lane, 2002 (6 vols). Based on the most recent definitive French edition (1987–89), except The Fugitive, which is based on the 1954 definitive French edition. The first four volumes have been published in New York by Viking, 2003–2004, but the Copyright Term Extension Act will delay the rest of the project until 2018.
o (Volume titles: The Way by Swann's (in the U.S., Swann's Way) ISBN 0-14-243796-4; In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower ISBN 0-14-303907-5; The Guermantes Way ISBN 0-14-303922-9; Sodom and Gomorrah ISBN 0-14-303931-8; The Prisoner; and The Fugitive — Finding Time Again.)
* In Search of Lost Time, translated by C. K. Scott-Moncrieff, Terence Kilmartin and Andreas Mayor (Vol. 7). Revised by D.J. Enright. London: Chatto and Windus, New York: The Modern Library, 1992. Based on the most recent definitive French edition (1987–89). ISBN 0-8129-6964-2
o (Volume titles: Swann's Way — Within a Budding Grove — The Guermantes Way — Sodom and Gomorrah — The Captive — The Fugitive — Time Regained.)
* A Search for Lost Time: Swann's Way, translated by James Grieve. Canberra: Australian National University, 1982 ISBN 0-7081-1317-6
* Remembrance of Things Past, translated by C. K. Scott Moncrieff, Terence Kilmartin, and Andreas Mayor (Vol. 7). New York: Random House, 1981 (3 vols). ISBN 0-394-71243-9
o (Published in three volumes: Swann's Way — Within a Budding Grove; The Guermantes Way — Cities of the Plain; The Captive — The Fugitive — Time Regained.)
Adaptations
* The Proust Screenplay, a film adaptation by Harold Pinter published in 1978 (never filmed).
* Remembrance of Things Past, Part One: Combray; Part Two: Within a Budding Grove, vol.1; Part Three: Within a Budding Grove, vol.2; and Part Four: Un amour de Swann, vol.1 are graphic novel adaptations by Stéphane Heuet.
* Albertine, a novel based on a rewriting of Albertine by Jacqueline Rose. Vintage UK, 2002.
Screen
* Swann in Love (Un Amour de Swann), a 1984 film by Volker Schlöndorff starring Jeremy Irons and Ornella Muti.
* Time Regained (Le Temps retrouvé), a 1999 film by Raul Ruiz starring Catherine Deneuve, Emmanuelle Béart, and John Malkovich.
* La Captive, a 2000 film by Chantal Akerman.
* Quartetto Basileus (1982) uses segments from Sodom and Gomorrah and Time Regained. Le Intermittenze del cuore (2003) concerns a director working on a movie about Proust's life. Both from Italian director Fabio Capri.
Stage
* A Waste of Time, by Philip Prowse and Robert David MacDonald. A 4 hour long adaptation with a huge cast. Dir. by Philip Prowse at the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre in 1980, revived 1981 plus European tour.
* Remembrance of Things Past, by Harold Pinter and Di Trevis, based on Pinter's The Proust Screenplay. Dir. by Trevis (who had acted in A Waste of Time - see above) at the Royal National Theatre in 2000.
* Eleven Rooms of Proust, adapted and directed by Mary Zimmerman. A series of 11 vignettes from In Search of Lost Time, staged throughout an abandoned factory in Chicago.
* My Life With Albertine, a 2003 Off-Broadway musical with book by Richard Nelson, music by Ricky Ian Gordon, and lyrics by both.
Radio
* In Search of Lost Time dramatised by Michael Butt for the The Classic Serial, broadcast between February 6, 2005 and March 13, 2005. Starring James Wilby, it condensed the entire series into six episodes. Although considerably shortened, it received excellent reviews .