Marcel Proust's classic novel Swann's Way is replete with recollections of the distant past. This is the first volume of the acclaimed series: Remembrance of Things Past, also named In Search of Lost Time. Originally written and published in 1909, this premier entry in Proust's series contains some of the finest prose fiction Proust ever authored. Although lengthy, no sacrifice is made with the signature style Proust had cultivated by the time he commenced Swann's Way - recollections are written relentlessly, of places, names, items and other such paraphernalia of life. The narrator gradually builds up a plot surrounding his own life and activities. The titular character, Charles Swann is an associate of the narrator's family who receives particular interest in the story. The first scene recounts a dinner in which Swann was in attendance, noting his characteristics. By stages, a compelling story unfolds with Swann's affections for the former courtesan Odette de Crecy explored.

Presented for the first time in English, the recently discovered early manuscripts of the twentieth century's most towering literary figure offer uncanny glimpses of his emerging genius and the creation of his masterpiece. One of the most significant literary events of the century, the discovery of manuscript pages containing early drafts of Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time put an end to a decades-long search for the Proustian grail. The Paris publisher Bernard de Fallois claimed to have viewed the folios, but doubts about their existence emerged when none appeared in the Proust manuscripts bequeathed to the Bibliotheque Nationale in 1962. The texts had in fact been hidden among Fallois's private papers, where they were found upon his death in 2018. The Seventy-Five Folios and Other Unpublished Manuscripts presents these folios here for the first time in English, along with seventeen other brief unpublished texts. Extensive commentary and notes by the Proust scholar Nathalie Mauriac Dyer offer insightful critical analysis. Characterized by Fallois as the "precious guide" to understanding Proust's masterpiece, the folios contain early versions of six episodes included in the novel. Readers glimpse what Proust's biographer Jean-Yves Tadie describes as the "sacred moment" when the great work burst forth for the first time. The folios reveal the autobiographical extent of Proust's writing, with traces of his family life scattered throughout. Before the existence of Charles Swann, for example, we find a narrator named Marcel, a testament to what one scholar has called "the gradual transformation of lived experience into (auto)fiction in Proust's elaboration of the novel." Like a painter's sketches and a composer's holographs, Proust's folios tell a story of artistic evolution. A "dream of a book, a book of a dream," Fallois called them. Here is a literary magnum opus finding its final form.

Stunning edition of the standalone novella from Proust's great masterpiece, in a new translation When Charles Swann first lays eyes on Odette de Crécy, he is indifferent to her beauty. Their paths continue to cross in the drawing rooms and theatres of Parisian high society, and the seeds of desire in Swann begin to flourish. What follows is a journey through self-delusion, jealousy and delirious fantasy, which will take Swann far from the sedate comfort of his society life. A standalone novella from Proust's monumental masterpiece, Swann in Love is a sublimely witty and poignant story of the illusions of love and desire. Full of the rich social satire and penetrating insight that distinguish Proust's style, it is the perfect introduction to one of the world's great novelists.

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.