100 Years of Lost Time

On Entartete Musik, throughout November, I'll be marking 100 years since the publication of Du côté de chez Swann, the first volume of Marcel Proust's novel À la recherche du temps perdu. Swann's Way, as it is known in English, first appeared in print, after many publishers had refused the text, on 14 November 1913.

That date marked the beginning of an enormous odyssey through the mores and morality of the belle époque. It begins with memories of the narrator's childhood, famously triggered, somewhat involuntarily, by the dipping of a madeleine into his tea. Hopefully the series of Lost Time posts on the blog – about the music, art, themes, people and places of À la recherche du temps perdu – will also be a springboard for further investigation. Meanwhile, my journey through the later volumes continues...

Tweet