Book Information
Book: In Search of Lost Time
(Original French title: À la recherche du temps perdu; English title: In Search of Lost Time)
Author: Marcel Proust
When people have died, material things have crumbled, and nothing of the distant past remains, smell and taste alone, so fragile and without form, or rather precisely because they have no form, remain unchanged and tenacious, like souls. Even when everything else lies in ruins, they endure, unforgotten, waiting and hoping, bearing, without giving way, the immense architecture of memory upon their tiny, almost impalpable drop.
From In Search of Lost Time
Book Review
The moment I remembered the taste of the madeleine my aunt had given me, […] memories began to pour out. […] Now not only all the flowers in our garden, but those in Monsieur Swann’s garden, the water lilies in the Vivonne, the homes of the good villagers, the church, all of Combray and its surroundings, took on living form and vivid color and rose up solidly. The town and its gardens had sprung out of the tea and madeleine I had tasted.
From In Search of Lost Time
The first volume of In Search of Lost Time was published in 1913, and Marcel Proust continued working on the novel until his death in 1922. It runs to at least 3,000 pages in the original French, equivalent to more than 10,000 sheets of Japanese manuscript paper with 400 characters per sheet. It is recognized by Guinness World Records as the longest novel. The Bibliothèque nationale de France’s account also documents drafts and typescripts predating the first volume’s publication in 1913.
Even Iwanami Bunko took nine years to publish all 14 volumes of this work, which is also famous as a novel many readers give up on. At the same time, it is well known in the world of perfume, where the idea that “scent awakens memories of the past” is often discussed. This is because the phenomenon in which a particular smell evokes memories and emotions associated with it is called the “Proust effect.”
In reality, however, scent is only one part of this book, and it seems to me that Proust’s philosophy of life is portrayed throughout the novel.
For example, here is a passage about love.
Love, after all, makes us both suspicious and credulous. It is because we love that we are quick to suspect, and because we love that we are quick to believe. We must fall in love to learn that not all women are faithful. And in the same way, we must fall in love to establish that faithful women do exist.
From In Search of Lost Time
For example, here is a passage about desire.
It is desire that makes us take an interest in another person’s existence and character. Desire alone keeps us true to our own nature.
From In Search of Lost Time
Perfumes Connected with Proust
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• When we think of Proust’s words about scent, we think of madeleines and tea. The perfume brand MAD et LEN takes its name from a play on the word “madeleine.”
Find MAD et LEN perfumes here
• Les Bains Guerbois: 1900 L’Heure de Proust
View the product here
Purchase Information
▼ Buy on Amazon ▼
• Complete set
• Recommended single-volume edition
▼ Buy on Rakuten ▼
• Complete set
• Recommended single-volume edition
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