Product Description
At last brought to the U.S., the best-selling comics adaptation of the great classic of French literature that scandalized the French establishment as reported on the front page of the New York Times! Step back into a world of insightful reflection as Proust is brought back, through the legendary magic of the smell of a madeleine, to his youth in a small town of France. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

simplifying to the point of distortion
I'm rather surprised that there's been no one so far who pointed out the book's way of abridging Proust that often verges on distortion. One of the more serious cases of this occurs on p. 41, as to Swann's peculiar linguistic habit. It is taken from p. 135 of Modern Library's Swann's Way, and here, it is about how Swann took care to speak with quotation marks in place whenever he discussed things that seemed important to him. To speak of things that would normally matter, not least to himself, as if he's merely relaying the general opinion on them, such was Swann's way of ironically calling attention to an important topic, without declaring any personal allegiance on his part to it.

In this particular instance, none of the irony and subtlety the original has remains in Heuet's adapation. Here, it is made out as if Swann doesn't have the confidence to speak his thoughts without quotation marks, and in good times that may come, he would finally learn to do so. Ridiculous! But then, it may be only natural that simplification of this severity should end up in distortion.

It's like the Illustrated Classics have returned in graphic novel form.
Stephane Heuet, Remembrance of Things Past: Combray (ComicsLit, 1998)

Stephane Heuet has taken on the unenviable, and quite Herculean, task of adapting Marcel Proust's vast Remembrance of Things Past and adapting it into graphic novel form. Combray, the opening part of the novel Swann's Way, is the first offering in the series.

This is not your typical graphic novel, but then one would be hard-pressed to adapt Remembrance... in traditional graphic novel form. There's a whole lot of exposition, and many pretty pictures, and very little dialogue. Heuet's people look more than a tad like Herge's, which has me constantly wondering when Snowy and the Captain are going to barge into any given scene, but that's a minor distraction. The story is-- obviously-- abridged, but it still serves, so far, as a fine introduction to Proust for, say, the high-school set. ***

I can finally run for presidency
As a slow reader, I always favored "bande desinees" [graphic novels].At the annual picnic of my wife's employer, the french dept of a university, I can finally converse with her collegues and actually sound smart.I can even, what can I say, run for Presidency 2008.Oops:that would overqualify me...

Really interesting.Maybe I should now challenge myself to read the real thing...

your kids will love french litterature .... at last!
For the first time, Marguerite (11), Louis (16) did understand and appreciate what Proust means for the rest of us! When I brought them to Illiers (the actual name of Combray village, near Chartres)we asked the "boulanger" for "Proust-madeleine" cakes. But he does not make them anymore. Some shops are for sale, there. Maybe one of Amazon.com readers should settle down and start a "Proust-cake" business there. This book is terrific because the graphics are as "bon-goût" as the text.

Toujours, Proust et A La Recherche
How incredible to find my much beloved Proust placed in my equally beloved comics format!At last, the astoundingly complex and beautiful novel is being made more accessible to the masses. The simplistic Eurocomics style is perfect in the uncomplicating process. Heuet has quite adroitly whittled away to the essence.This can hopefully serve as an introduction to the masterwork; at very least, it will acquaint more with what may indeed be the greatest novel of the 20th Century. I was particularly pleased at the attention paid to Proust's droll humor.Can't wait for the next installment.A profound addition to the often mundane plethora of graphic novels. ... Read more

Product Description
Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time is one of the most entertaining reading experiences in any language and arguably the finest single work of the twentieth century. Since the original prewar translation there has been no completely new rendering of the original French. Now Viking makes Proust's masterpiece accessible to a whole new generation, beginning with Lydia Davis's new translation of the first volume, Swann's Way.

Swann's Way is one of the preeminent novels of childhood-a sensitive boy's impressions of his family and neighbors, all brought dazzlingly back to life years later by the famous taste of a madeleine. It also enfolds the short novel Swann's Love, an incomparable study of sexual jealousy, which becomes a crucial part of the vast, unfolding structure of In Search of Lost Time. The first volume of the book that established Proust as one of the finest voices of the modern age-satirical, skeptical, confiding, and endlessly varied in his response to the human condition-Swann's Way also stands on its own as a perfect rendering of a life in art, of the past re-created through memory. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Fluidity of senses and memories, deliciously and beautifully expressed by a master mind
I must say that I had alot of trepidation about reading this book because of its reputation of being difficult. I must admit that it was not at all easy to read, but not because of the long sentences, but because the intensity of attention this book rightfully demanded and my own anxiety to understand as much as possible.I read it slowly and looked up the paintings and places in the internet to visualize people and places.I baked madeleins, and imagined its taste when dipped in lime-blossom tea, and I thought about my own connections between tastes, sights, touches, music and memories, all of which were interesting trips, some happy, some sad....as you can see, this book was very interactive for me.What is most amazing is the author's superhuman ability to notice details of life--people, places, culture, nature, you name it--- and transport them into different layers of senses, perceptions, arts with such beauty and fluidity.I often laughed out loud when reading the incredibly detailed and brutally accurate and humourous descrpitions of human behaviors that are so ridiculous in nature but commonly accepted in practice.(for example,the M. Legrandin's conversations with the author's father, shamelessly avoidant, hilarious!) The book ends with "The places we have known do not belong solely to the world of space in which we situate them for our greater convenience.They were only a thin slice among contiguous impressions which formed our life at that time; the memory of a certain image is but regret for a certain moment; and houses, roads, avenues are as fleeting, alas, as the years."--left me with the image of Monet's paintings. I can see why this book has influence so many thinkers of modern history---Oppenheimer, for one.For me, one down, 6 more volumes to go, but I will take time to enjoy them , s..l..o..w..l..y. "

WARNING THIS IS NOT THE NEW TRANSLATION
This is not the recent translation by Lydia Davis - this is exactly the same edition/translation as the Moncrieff/Kilmartin, but Amazon put the Lydia Davis cover on the item. This needs to be corrected.

Awesome quick response
In ordering a copy of Proust's Swann's Way, the formal order form stated that it would be start to be filled (not mailed) anywhere up to 21 days.Instead of a long wait, the book arrived in perfect condition- like brand new-- within 4 days from placing the order.Thank you!I'll happily use this seller again.

beware the Kindle link
Lydia Davis's translation of Swann's Way is a great addition to the language. That's not the issue, though. At the top of the page there's a note to the effect that this book is available in a Kindle edition, but the link is not to Davis's translation. Rather, it goes to the Modern Library version, which is a very good update of the old Scott Moncrieff translation from the 1920s.

Personally, I like the new 'Penguin Proust' -- liked it so much, indeed, that I bought and read the Modern Library editions. They are excellent, but they are not the same thing.

If you are up to reading À la recherche du temps perdu on a small digital screen, be awfully careful where you shop. The Kindle bookstore is full of bandit editions, several of which link to the new translations in order to steal their cover artwork and reader reviews. (This review of mine will no doubt appear on one of them. I hope it does some good!) Caveat lector.

Beautiful but fatiguing
Clearly, Proust has a remarkable gift for perception, as if he is able to see human experience, circumstance, and even plain objects, in exploded detail, and distill them for the reader. Particularly in the first and third parts of the book, he frequently drops gems of absolute truth, in much the same way that Shakespearean couplets remarkably capture the essence of love or revenge. To me, this is the reward of reading the book, and what makes the challenge worth undertaking.

At first, you may be overwhelmed by his very complex sentences, as others have noted. It is important to Proust to express an entire thought in one sentence; a lofty objective with sometimes dire consequences, but Proust adheres to it admirably. You soon learn to maintain the subject of the sentence in your head while Proust explores two or three tangents to the original thought before he comes back to it. What works in the reader's favor is that Proust is very regular with his sentence structure, so once you develop a feel for it, it ceases to intimidate.

The book is divided into three parts: The first and third parts recount experiences of Proust's early childhood, while the second part details the love affair of Charles Swann. To me, the first part is the most beautiful, followed by the third part. You will be able to tell within the first 50 or so pages whether or not Proust will suit you. The second part of the book becomes plodding and monotonous, as Proust narrates even a simple set of circumstances in many layers of redundancy, each recounted in exhaustive detail, in his complex style which begins to feel formulaic, wordy, and indulgent. Here's the subject of the sentence, tangent number one, the tangent to tangent number one, tangent number two, and then it ends with yet another metaphor about invalids. The regularity of sentence structure is much easier to tolerate in the first and third parts because Proust flits between several ideas or subjects, whereas in the second part, he drills to the very core of the earth on one or two subjects with a few variations. I found myself feeling pretty burned out, counting down pages to the end of Part 2. My advice is to pick up your reading speed if it starts to become boring or if you lose your concentration.

If Proust were not quite so overly thorough in Part 2, or if he had varied his cadence or sentence structure a bit more, I could recommend this book without hesitation. As it is, it will require an unusual investment of concentration and patience, but I believe it is worth it. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Up-close glimpses of Marcel Proust
This book was first published in 1949, the letters having been selected by Mina Curtiss from the editions then available. This means that she did not have access to Philip Kolb's 21-volume magisterial edition of the original French correspondence. Even so, for a newcomer (to Proust's correspondence, not to Proust in general) this book is a treasure trove. We have here a collection of 236 letters by Marcel Proust (as well as 2 by André Gide and 3 by Madame Straus addressed to M.P.), the first of which was written in 1885 or 1886 and the last in November 1922.

Ms. Curtiss has given us a translation that is more than decent. Her avowed goal was to use "a kind of English that it seemed to [her] Proust might have written, had he been bilingual". My only complaint is that here and there she left words or phrases in the original French, feeling that they were essentially untranslatable. This may be so, but for the English- (but not French-) speaker it interferes (given its frequency, not very seriously) with the understanding of some subtle points.

Furthermore, Ms. Curtiss has provided some very informative brief biographical notes on Proust's correspondents, given right before a new person appears as the addressee. These are accompanied by approximately 50 pages of notes, which offer further biographical facts, cross-referencing with "In Search of Lost Time", and some practical clarifications relating to the specific context of certain letters.

This edition also contains a useful index and a new introduction by Adam Gopnik which, though not mind-blowing, serves its purpose well.

Regarding Proust's contribution to this book (!): we see him corresponding with countless people, including family members, friends, and publishers. Among the topics that we see discussed are the Dreyfus affair, the Great War, as well as Proust's efforts toward getting "Swann's Way" published. I was also fascinated by Proust's attempts to summarize in a few (relatively short) paragraphs the content of the later volumes. The writing in these letters is in some senses different from that in the long novel, but, for all those who have already grown to love Proust's voice, it is wholly gratifying.

(Two corrections, one quite trivial, the other less so: a) the last page of the book is p. 564, not p. 462 like amazon says, and b) the book's title is "Letters of Marcel Proust", not "The Letters of Marcel Proust".)

Alexandros Gezerlis ... Read more

Product Description
Since the original prewar translation, there has been no completely new rendering of the French original into English. This translation brings to the fore a more sharply engaged, comic and lucid Proust. "In Search of Lost Time" is one of the greatest, most entertaining reading experiences in any language. As the great story unfolds from its magical opening scenes to its devastating end, it is the Penguin Proust that makes Proust accessible to a new generation. Each volume is translated by a different, superb translator working under the general editorship of Professor Christopher Prendergast, University of Cambridge. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Way by Swann's
This is the British paperback of "The Way by Swann's," which in the U.S. hardcover edition is called "Swann's Way." The translator is the American short-story writer (and MacArthur "genius" award-winner) Lydia Davis, who has done a superlative job of translating the first volume of Proust's masterwork. I have reviewed it at greater length on the page devoted to the hardcover edition. Personally, I think that these volumes are for the ages, and I want a permanent copy for my library. But if your wants are more transient, this is the edition to get. -- Dan Ford ... Read more

Product Description
Swann's Way, published in 1913, is the first part of Proust's seven-part novel A la Recherche du temps perdu. The author's expansion, revision and correction of the work were cut short by his death in 1922, and sixty-six years later editors are still producing variants of the last three volumes based on working notebooks. The novel's structure was compared by its author to that of a cathedral, and its status is that of one of the greatest literary landmarks of the twentieth century. Sheila Stern's study begins with a summary of the whole novel and goes on to give an account of the activity of reading as part of its subject-matter. Two chapters are devoted to Swann's Way itself, with close attention to the opening pages, and to such topics as memory, time, imagery and names. The book's reception in various Western literatures is discussed, and there is a guide to further reading. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

What you've been waiting for
I've read Remembrance twice. This is the book I've been waiting to read. It's everything I Proust fan could ask for.

The Lost Paradise
Although other studies of Proust and the nature of love have been published before, for the most part in French, William C. Carter's fascinating follow-up to his monumental (and standard-bearing) biography of the author is a much-needed work on an endlessly fascinating topic. Proust was a man who may have written a 3000+-page novel, but who also hid much. He was a man of many disguises, and was perhaps most comfortable hiding behind the many versions of "I" in his novel. The man who roams within the corridors of his private life, as he always insisted, is not the same man as Proust the Artist. What Carter has so successfully (and succinctly) done here is to view Proust's attitudes towards love, and indeed Proust's own "love life", with a more enlightened eye. In a time when homosexuality, though always under siege from the extreme Right and the fundamentalists, is gradually becoming accepted by the mainstream, Carter brings to light Proust's ambivalent nature as regards love--and the tension between the abstract and more spiritual notion of love--and eros, pure and simple. What Carter has succeeded in writing is a kind of roman noir, a detective story set in the Parisian underground as the 19th century slides into the 20th. We find Proust in a brothel raid, we see Proust as, perhaps aptly for a writer, voyeur. But love was central to his work--love, and loss, and the impossibility of anything but art--and Carter, with all the lucidity he brought to his great biography, yet again confirms his stature as the finest Proust scholar--and indeed the most enjoyably readable--of our time. ... Read more

Product Description

In this conclusion to this section of Proust’s classic, we get to understand what he means by ‘budding grove.’ As the summer on the beach winds down, the adolescent Proust is increasingly smitten by the young beauties his age he passes by but never gets to meet... until a well-known painter gives him that very chance. The romantic anticipation, the teasing sensations, the fantasized expectations mixed with the summer sun, the sea breeze... some things never change.

Product Description

Jacques GuÉrin was a prominent businessman at the head of his family's successful perfume company, but his real passion was for rare books and literary manuscripts. From the time he was a young man, he frequented the antiquarian bookshops of Paris in search of lost, forgotten treasures. The ultimate prize? Anything from the hands of Marcel Proust.

Customer Reviews (11)

Reads like a thriller-reportage!
Great short book, and well translated by painter and writer Eric Karpeles.
The book is the description of the obsession of a highly literate entrepreneur, Jacques Guérin (1902-2000), the son of an amazing, non-conformist woman-entrepreneur Jeanne-Louise Guérin, who after separating from her husband in 1900 (a daring move at the time) became a very successful business woman. She raised capital from Theophile Bader (co-founder of the Galeries Lafayette) to revive and turn around a famous brand name in the perfumery industry, the Parfums d'Orsay, named after one of the most famous dandies of the romantic area, Alfred d'Orsay (1801-1852), and produced some of the Art Deco perfumery blockbusters, such as Le Dandy. She bought out all the investors in 1936 and appointed her son Jacques, who had studied chemistry, as the general manager. His passion for literature and avant-garde artists were a driving force, and even led him to create Divine in 1947, inspired by a drag queen in Jean Genet's Our Lady of the Flowers (incidentally, I doubt that the ladies who bought the fragrance ever read the story).
Guérin was an insatiable collector with an acute sense of what was worth collecting and had a passion of all things Proust. He has been exposed to the Proust family when he fell ill: Marcel Proust's brother, Robert Proust, a doctor, like their father, Adrian Proust, has been called to his bedside because of an appendicitis for which he was operated. A few weeks later, to thank the famous surgeon, Guérin paid a visit to Robert Proust's and got a peek at a place that had turned as a Marcel Proust's sanctuary. The brothers were not that close, but Robert had kept most of his brother's belongings after his death in 1922. Family honor obliging.
When Robert Proust died in 1935, his widow Marthe Dubois-Amiot, who had harbored a ruthless hatred for anything Proust, was determined to destroy by fire all Proust memorabilia; however, overwhelmed by the immensity of the task, she ended up asking a Mr. Werner to send piles of paper to an antique bookshop rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, across from Hermès, and find buyers for pieces of furniture she abhorred - such as Proust's bed from the age of 16 until his death. Guérin chanced by this place - that he had never noticed beforea few minutes later and bought invaluable manuscripts, letters and photographs, putting pressure on the capricious Mr. Werner to know if there was more to buy, the latter seeming to somewhat sadistically enjoy his power over the brilliant amateur.
Lorenza Foschini's book reads like a thriller-reportage, and it is amazing to find out how the most famous overcoat in French literature and Proust's shield against both sun and rain ended up resisting the wrath of a sister-in-law, the waters of the Marne river, and the appetite of moths.
It all started when Lorenza interviewed Visconti's famous costume designer Piero Tosi for a television program. He had met dozens of people who had been in one way or the other associated directly or indirectly with Proust as Visconti had had the impossible project of creating a film adaptation of In Search of Lost Time.But the story of this overcoat could definitely be the subject of an interesting camp movie.

A bit of desert for any Proust lover.
This is a delightful little bonus for anyone who can not get enough information about Marcel Proust.
It is an easy read, has interesting photographs and fascinating biographical tid bits.

Wonderful Read
Foschini, Lorenza. "Proust's Overcoat: The True Story of One Man's Passion for All Things Proust", Ecco, 2010.

Wonderful Read

Amos Lassen

Marcel Proust has a good solid place on my list of favorite writers. Whenever I see that there is something new about him out, I make it a point to get it as soon as possible. I have been disappointed several times with some of the stuff I have read about Proust but this time is a reason for celebration.
The book is the story of Jacques Guerin, a businessman in the perfume industry whose real love was rare books and literary manuscripts, specifically those that deal with Proust. Proust was the greatest influence on his life and he identified with him.When he became ill, his doctor was none other than Dr. Robert Proust, brother of his favorite author. Dr.Proust and his family had destroyed many of the author's personal effects including manuscripts because they were embarrassed by his homosexuality and his lack of respect for the bourgeoisie. Guerin became friendly with the Proust family and managed to obtain some of the things that once belonged to Proust and he tried very hard to get the one thing he really desired, Proust's overcoat.
This is a book that one cannot dislike. It charms the reader and it is loaded with drawings and photographs, etc. It is beautifully written with wonderful descriptions.
Marcel Proust is a great character and he is a fun person to read about. Guerin's story of searching for Proust memorabilia pulls you in and we learn about the Proust family in a charming and beautifully written story of a man with an obsession with and it almost reads like a detective story of man searching to rebuild his literary past. The book is slim but it is a jewel of research and illustration. Everything about the book is compelling and you not only feel Gurein's passion but the passion of the author as well. There is also a bibliography which can direct the reader to other sources.
I read the book in an afternoon and when I finished it I was feeling good because of what I had read. If I had to find one word to describe the book it would be charming.

A fascinating journey
Rarely does an obsession introduce itself to you. But for French perfume magnet Jacques Guérin, that is the simplest way of explaining how a man went from a casual acquaintance of the Proust family to an avid collector of belongings of the writer Marcel Proust. In //Proust's Overcoat: The True Story of One Man's Passion for All Things Proust,// Lorenza Foschini doesn't take the easy way. She expands on the details of Guérin's growing interest for Proust's things. Initially a patient of Dr. Robert Proust, Marcel Proust's brother, Guérin had an arm's-length relationship with members of the Proust family. During a chance encounter, Guérin learns that the doctor's family intended to destroy Marcel Proust's possessions.

Year-after-year and piece-by-piece, Guérin builds a collection of Proust effects, becoming increasingly more impassioned along the way. Guérin continues to hope for certain remnants' from the writer's life, specifically the overcoat Proust wore daily and used as a blanket nightly, hoping these items have not been destroyed. In this short book of nonfiction, Foschini does a superb job of driving the intrigue and depicting how and why Guérin fell into such an infatuation. The Prousts and Guérin are characters not soon forgotten.

Reviewed by Elizabeth Humphrey

More uncovered LGBT history
Foschini has fashioned this exquisite extended essay about the famous French perfume magnate and bibliophile Jacques Guerin, a friend of Satie, Genet, and Cocteau, and collector of rare books and manuscripts.

A professional visit with Dr. Robert Proust (Marcel's younger brother) leads to a treasure trove of papers, notebooks, furniture and clothing; but not immediately, and not without some duplicity.It is said that Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and Dr. Proust's widow felt betrayed by her philandering husband and disgusted by his degenerate homosexual brother-in-law.With little forethought as to the lucrative aspects of the Proust canon, she bitterly ordered the great novelist's papers burned.Though much was lost, much was saved by a savvy antiques dealer and friend of Guerin.

I sat enthralled, reading this slim volume in a single sitting (unheard for me).This is a fascinating slice of gay history - the openly gay Guerin preserving for posterity the works of the great Proust.I heartily recommend it.
... Read more

Product Description
In 1904, while still working on his translations of Ruskin, Marcel Proust wrote to Maurice Barres "I still have two Ruskin's to do, and after that I shall try to translate my own poor soul, if it doesn't die in the meantime."Within a few years Proust would begin this translation of his "own poor soul"--the monumental Remembrance of Things Past, one of the great literary works of the 20th century.

In this volume of Proust's collected letters--translated by Terence Kilmartin, acclaimed for his work on the Moncrieff translation of Proust's works--the reader is carried inside this pivotal moment in a great writer's life. In a letter to Louis d'Albufera he lists the projects he has in hand: "a study on the nobility, a Parisian novel, an essay on Sainte-Beuve and Flaubert, an essay on Women, an essay on Pederasty (not easy to publish), a study on stained-glass windows, a study on tombstones, a study on the novel"--all subjects that eventually found their way into Remembrance of Things Past.The final letter in the volume talks of alterations to his flat "which are essential for my peace and quiet"--an allusion no doubt to the cork-lined room in which he would spend so many years continuing to pursue his quest for "Lost Time."

The letters are intriguing for what they say about the work, but they also offer an intimate portrait of the man--the sometime invlaid recluse, sometime socialite. Although Proust spent a great deal of time insulated at home, when he does go out it is clear that the talent for malicious observation so evident in Guermantes Way was already quite sharp.He refers to a group of dowagers he'd seen at a concert as "portraits of monsters from the time when people didn't know how to draw."And his letters to his devoted friend the composer Reynaldo Hahn are full of wit, scurrilous gossip and a great deal of teasing.He also carries on lively exchanges with two very different women--Marie Nordlinger, a serious, dedicated artist, and Louisa de Mornand, a frivolous, mercenary actress.His letters to Marie are affectionate, but his letters to Louisa are amorous--sometimes even salacious, (possibly because she served as a surrogate for his real interst, her lover Albufera.)Proust's celebrated devotion to his mother is also evident in this collection.Theirs is an intimate and loving correspondence, and her death in 1905 is clearly a tremendous blow ("My life has now forever lost its only purpose, its only sweetness, its only consolation.")

This long-awaited volume will be welcomed by scholars and general readers alike.The letters offer a special insight into the man and his art during a crucial period, and they are as delightful to read--as beautifully crafted, witty and poignant--as his fiction. ... Read more

Product Description
Sodom and Gomorrah—now in a superb translation by John Sturrock—takes up the theme of homosexual love, male and female, and dwells on how destructive sexual jealousy can be for those who suffer it. Proust’s novel is also an unforgiving analysis of both the decadent high society of Paris and the rise of a philistine bourgeoisie that is on the way to supplanting it. Characters who had lesser roles in earlier volumes now reappear in a different light and take center stage, notably Albertine, with whom the narrator believes he is in love, and the insanely haughty Baron de Charlus. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Thus I find in his spirit, exceedingly warm and congenial, what eases me the malevolent shivers that winter brings.
At one point in our life, in the thermosphere of love, we had encountered someone congruous in all aspects.However no two individuals go through the same geometric growth and when one outgrows the other they overlap. And so one conforms to the shape of the other in order to achieve a perfect tessellation.I say this because love is so exact; a mathematical equation that has several ways of solving but the answer remains the same.

If Darwin's Origin of Species is a bit painstaking to read, in this volume Proust elaborates the evolutionist's theory on how plants and flowers propagate.This may not sound relevant but the exemplar of botanical reproduction explains the sexual and homosexual content of the narration in more than one utterly hilarious event.I can vividly picture Robin Williams in The Birdcage as the homosexual Baron Charlus who made several advances to the young narrator.

The unforeseen deviation in Proust's theme, that of bisexuality, should not discourage the reader to pursue the fifth volume because in it the narrator's love affair with Albertine is like Swann and Odette all over again. As with history of love that keeps repeating itself, it becomes all the more electrifying albeit with lesser shock.

Thank you, Penguin
Sturrock justifies the editor's (Prendergast's) decision to include him in his lineup of translators. The English (as is the case with the preceding Penguin volumes of In Search of Lost Time) feels fresh, contemporary, and natural, never stilted or forced. Idioms and puns are almost always rendered as well in the English as they must be in the French. Even if you have read the Moncrieff translation, Sturrock and his fellow translators make a return to Proust worthwhile. After the cliffhanger at the end of The Guermantes Way, I couldn't wait to get to Sodom and Gomorrah. Proust and Sturrock deliver an always engaging follow-up.

(A quick note on the book's physical character: I love how Penguin has handled these softcover editions. They are just big enough that the print can be of a legible size. They're a pleasure to hold for long spells of reading. And they're sturdily-enough constructed that the spine need not crease.)

Sodom and Gomorrah
It was my first time ordering a book from Amazon, I had a little trouble at first locating the exact place where I was supposed to order, because there so many things you could order, then I had a little trouble making the payment. But the book arrived on time and in good condition. Thank you.

Helpful Footnotes
This new translations features 29 pages of helpful footnotes - limiting the need to constantly turn to Wikipedia for elucidation of Proust's many historical and literary references.The translation is easy to follow. ... Read more

Product Description
In his last years, ill and aware that his early death was fast approaching, Marcel Proust seldom left the confines of his apartment. As the German bombs rained down on Paris, he worked desperately to complete his great novel, "In Search of Lost Time". Yet, although his illness and his dedication to his work meant that he rarely saw anyone but a few servants, Proust remained an indefatigable correspondent. He reached out to his wide circle of friends through his letters, and they vividly demonstrate that his great humanity, wit and compassion remained undimmed by his isolation and failing health. This, the fourth and final volume of the selected letters of Marcel Proust, brings to a close one of the greatest collections of correspondence in any language, at any time. ... Read more

Product Description

The acclaimed adaptation continues. Swann is a frequent guest of the high society soirees at the end of the 19th century. When he first encounters Odette de Crecy, he feels no attraction to this frivolous and superficial young woman but time has it otherwise and soon, she becomes an obsession…

"Heuet`s project continues as a successful venture. The narrative that unfolds is self-contained enough that readers new to the series will be able to embark on a tale with a compelling cast of characters and a satisfying beginning, middle and end within these covers."-School Library Journal

Customer Reviews (1)

Remembrance of Things Past 3: Swan in Love 1, Rembrance of Things Past (Graphic Novels)
It was, as one would suspect, different from the original novel, but quite enjoyable.The art was delightful and added a quality that I found enhancing to this version of the story as a separate entity.One should not compare it to the original or you might be disappointed. Considered on its own, I found it to stand up on its own merits.

My one complaint with ordering it here is that the title above mentioned and this one: Remembrance of Things Past 1: Swann in Love (Remembrance of Things Past (Graphic Novels)) (Purchased on 08/30/2008) by Marcel Proust are both the same.I ended up ordering two of the same book.So be careful not to do the same thing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Ah... the Pleasure and Regrets
This, a very large book with very large photographs and very large typeface, contains a lot of fascinating information on the real Proust and his world. Of course, it is out of print, but the Sydney city library has one copy... Anyway, for a look at the real Marcel, not the Marcel of the recherche, this is a very lovely book to read, which is best suited to your coffee table. Check it out if you want to see who inspired which of Proust's characters. ... Read more