In Search of Lost Time

by Marcel Proust

A BBC Radio six-part dramatisation of Marcel Proust’s groundbreaking series of novels, tracing the extraordinary story of the author’s own life. Starring James Wilby and Jonathan Firth, and with a distinguished cast including Harriet Walter, Imogen Stubbs and Corin Redgrave, this rich, multi-layered adaptation brings out all the variety and subtlety of Proust’s magnificent masterpiece. Featuring a fictional version of himself - ‘Marcel’ - and a host of friends, acquaintances and lovers, ‘In Search of Lost Time’ is Proust’s search for the key to the mysteries of memory, time and consciousness. As he recalls his childhood days, the sad affair of Charles Swann and Odette de Crecy, his transition to manhood, the tortures of love and the ravages of war, he realises that the simplest of discoveries can lead to astonishing possibilities. ‘Delectable and memorable’ - Guardian ‘The kind of radio you shoo people out of the room for’ - Independent on Sunday

Audiobook

First published January 1, 1913

About the author

Marcel Proust was a French novelist, best known for his 3000 page masterpiece À la recherche du temps perdu (Remembrance of Things Past or In Search of Lost Time), a pseudo-autobiographical novel told mostly in a stream-of-consciousness style.

Born in the first year of the Third Republic, the young Marcel, like his narrator, was a delicate child from a bourgeois family. He was active in Parisian high society during the 80s and 90s, welcomed in the most fashionable and exclusive salons of his day. However, his position there was also one of an outsider, due to his Jewishness and homosexuality. Towards the end of 1890s Proust began to withdraw more and more from society, and although he was never entirely reclusive, as is sometimes made out, he lapsed more completely into his lifelong tendency to sleep during the day and work at night. He was also plagued with severe asthma, which had troubled him intermittently since childhood, and a terror of his own death, especially in case it should come before his novel had been completed. The first volume, after some difficulty finding a publisher, came out in 1913, and Proust continued to work with an almost inhuman dedication on his masterpiece right up until his death in 1922, at the age of 51.

Today he is widely recognized as one of the greatest authors of the 20th Century, and À la recherche du temps perdu as one of the most dazzling and significant works of literature to be written in modern times.

Reviews

[Kira Huiqi Ho · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tried looking for Proust’s In Search of Lost Time on and off, many times in the past 5 years. It looked like a good classic, but it sure looked long as well! 7 volumes, more than a million words, after all.

Thankfully, my library had this adaptation of the classic in audiobook format. This dramatic adaptation by the BBC was a good introduction to Proust’s classic. Perhaps I’ll read the books for myself in a few years time.

This classic is complex, frustrating, lingering, hard to put down. Marcel (in the book) is deeply insecure and appears to lack awareness of his identity and place amongst the people he cares about. A lot more goes on in his head then in verbal or physical expression. Proust gave each character depth and made them relatable to the readers, and as he remembers about things past, none of our senses escape the tantalising touch of his words as his detailed descriptions tickle our imagination.

Definitely a classic worth exploring if you ever have time to read through those more than a million words compiled in 7 volumes.

[Ann Petersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and fascinating. I want to listen again or maybe get a longer version.