SWANN'S WAY

'I realized the scope, the majesty and the scale of Proust's accomplishment. I felt as though I was holding in my hands the literary equivalent of all the works of Michelangelo, all the symphonies of Mahler, all the paintings of Cézanne, all the films of Fellini. This was not simply a book, this was a life's work.' Theodorou on A la recherche du temps perdu (1913-1927) by Marcel Proust Proust's work is remarkable for its richness and fullness and its refusal to be rushed. Swann's Way is the first of seven books that make up his masterpiece Remembrance of Things Past. It begins with the narrator biting into a madeleine cake dipped in tea that sends his mind elsewhere as memories of childhood come flooding back. In particular he's thinking of Charles Swann, a family friend from days gone by who fell for a woman called Odette... and so the river of teasing allusions, sensual impressions, elegant ironies, lovingly evoked descriptions, subtle and witty digressions and penetrating insights into the characters (along with a series of clinical character assassinations) begins to flow... let it all wash over you and you will be amazed. The translation is by C. K. Scott Moncrieff