"Swann’s Way" was first published in 1913 and is the first volume of Proust’s "In Search of Lost Time", a chronicle of the Belle Époque in France (the years preceding World War One). "Swann’s Way" is a novel made up of three different sections: Combray, where the narrator describes his childhood and illness, Swann in Love, where we are introduced to his love for a woman named Odette, and Place-Names: the Name, where the narrator tells us about the journeys he dreams of taking, were it not for his illness.
Proust self-published "Swann’s Way" after it was rejected by a range of publishers, who failed to see the merit of a book “describing how he tosses and turns in a bed before falling asleep”. They would later regret this decision, as "In Search of Lost Time" was greeted with great enthusiasm by Proust’s contemporaries and continues to be read and analyzed to this day.
"In Search of Lost Time" is composed by seven magnificent volumes:
- Volume One: "Swann's Way"
- Volume Two: "In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower"
