The Shorter Proust

'A la Recherche du Temps Perdu' by Marcel Proust is a magnificent and towering achievement of French literature, published in English translation in twelve volumes between 1922 and 1931, and totalling nearly one and a half million words. It is difficult for many readers to find the time and motivation needed to keep going through to the end as Proust has a rich and sometimes discursive style. However, a powerful structure underlies the whole work which is not revealed till the last chapter. This selection, which is less than a quarter of the original, includes all the crucial characters, places and themes needed to understand this and omits everything else. It is not intended to improve the original novels by editing, as many wonderful passages and descriptions have been left out. The style of the book in its vocabulary and sentence structure is unaltered. Nothing is paraphrased or condensed. The text reads as a continuous lively narrative with much of Proust's wit and humour and follows the sequence of the original, showing the development of all the major characters and including all the incidents which are referred to in the closing passages which resolve the whole novel. Proust himself encouraged the publication of "selected passages showing a coherent whole which is not diffused and will make one want to read the whole book" and this is the aim of this selection. It is intended to inspire the reader to go to the full text and enjoy individual sections in the knowledge of where they fit into the whole.