Swann's WayIntroduction
A Note on the Translation
Suggestions for Further Reading
Part I: Combray
1
2
Part II: Swann in Love
Part III:Place-Names: The Name
Notes
Synopsis
Marcel Proust (1871–1922) was born in Auteuil, France. In
his twenties, following a year in the army, he became a conspicuous
society figure, frequenting the most fashionable Paris salons of
the day. After 1899, however, his chronic asthma, the death of his
parents, and his growing disillusionment with humanity caused him
to lead an increasingly retired life. From 1907 on, he rarely
emerged from a cork-lined room in his apartment on boulevard
Haussmann. There he insulated himself against the distractions of
city life and the effects of trees and flowers—though he loved
them, they brought on his attacks of asthma. He slept by day and
worked by night, writing letters and devoting himself to the
completion of In Search of Lost Time.
Lydia Davis, a 2003 MacArthur Fellow, is the author of a
novel, The End of the Story, and three volumes of short fiction,
the latest of which is Samuel Johnson Is Indignant. She is also the
translator of numerous works by Maurice Blanchot, Michel Leiris,
Pierre Jean Jouve, and many others and was recently named a
Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French
government. Her essay on close translation of Proust appeared in
the April 2004 issue of the Yale Review.
Christopher Prendergast (series editor) is a professor
emeritus of French literature at the University of Cambridge and a
Fellow of King’s College.
Indispensable... the crucial modernist work, overtopping the books
of even such giants as Joyce and Mann. (Peter Brooks, The New York
Times Book Review)
A sensitive and direct translation... Lydia Davis does us a great
service in bringing us back to Proust. (Claire Messud, Newsday)
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