Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8593 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

Synopsis
Since the original prewar translation there has been no completely new rendering of the French original into English. This translation brings to the fore a more sharply engaged, comic and lucid Proust. IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME is one of the greatest, most entertaining reading experiences in any language. As the great story unfolds from its magical opening scenes to its devastating end, Penguin makes Proust accessible to a new generation. Each volume is translated by a different, superb translator working under the general editorship of Professor Christopher Prendergast, University of Cambridge.

Customer Reviews

Do not put off reading this book
I urge you to get this book out of the library, read it on-line, or best of all buy this superb translation. My response to the book has been quite emotional, and since others have better explained what the book is like, I will just say don't put off reading it until you break your leg or (as in my friend Rod's case) get a bit of pneumonia.
I also recommend How Proust Can Change Your Life because it is a beautiful little book and it will help you get the most out of reading In Search of Lost Time.
Yes, I really do think that Proust can change your life, in the sense that I changed the way I think about myself and other people, as if the restricting walls and ceiling of my dark little world had just fallen away.
I wish I had read this when I was 12 years old, but now will have to do.

Brilliant
I found myself completely captivated by this first of Proust's classic series; his evocations of children's perceptions of the world of grownups, and of what it is like to be a man in love, are simply superb. Sure, you have to smile a bit at the very long sentences - the editor protests that Proust's reputation for this is a bit unfair, in that "only" a quarter of the text consists of sentences that are longer then ten lines - yeah, right. But it would be impossible to unwind them. The pace of the book is of course very slow but I found that part of its charm. Roll on the second volume.

Also I was taken aback by the amount of girl-on-girl action. I'm not used to that in classic literature.

What would have happened if he'd had a coffee instead?
Why oh why has this new translation been published in two different covers? The American ones, in Penguin Delux Editions, have gorgeous covers, and the British editions have the usual wishy-washy close ups of roughly period paintings, and for some reason, Groucho Marx on the spine. His eyes follow you around the room. If it were not for that stupid law that means the last two volumes of the translation can't be published in the US until 2019 (& why won't sombody fix that?) we would never have bought them in this version, and will have to spend the afternoon covering them. It is most distracting...