What's your favorite book by Marcel Proust?

Question

I was reading about him, and wanted to get a suggestion on a book to read?

Answer 1

The previous answer is a bit.. odd!

Swann's way is the first volume of Remembrance of Things Past (or In Search of Lost Times.. A la recherche du temps perdu)

Proust is not easy to read... I would advise you to start off with the second part of the first volume, Un Amour de Swann, which is sometimes published in a separate volume. It focuses on a love story, and is different from the rest of the narrative because it is not written in the first person, and instead of focusing on the (unnamed) narrator, it focuses on the love story between Swann and Odette. It is easier to read.

Proust is best known for the Recherche, but if you want to read something different, there is always his pastiches et melanges which are very funny: he copies the style of authors like Flaubert amazingly well!

Of course, if you are ready to throw yourself into the 7 volumes, begin with Swann's Way!!

Happy Reading!

Answer 2

Rememberance of Times Past. One of the greatest books of the 20th Century. It's not a book that could be read in a couple of weeks, since Proust enjoyed writing long, descriptive scenes. Once you finished with that, there is Swann's Way.