Proust’s interest in reading was cultivated at a young age his father wrote books about medicine and hygiene while his mother was also well-read. One of the most revered names in French literature is Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust, more popularly known as Marcel Proust. In fact, France has produced the most number of awardees of the most prestigious literary prize out there. The excellence of French writers continues in the contemporary as it has produced 16 awardees of the Nobel Prize in Literature, including the most recent Nobel laureate in literature, Annie Ernaux (2022). Who has not heard of Victor Hugo (1802 – 1885) and his masterpieces Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame? Or Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) and his beloved works, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers? Not to be outdone, France also produced Émile Zola (1840-1902), Jules Verne (1828-1905), Voltaire (1694-1778), Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850), and George Sand (1804-1876). Over the centuries, the nation has produced some of the world’s most revered writers who, in turn, gifted the world with some of the most beloved, if not most studied works of literature. Enjoy free online English audiobook “Swann's Way”, the first part of In Search of Lost Time, a novel in seven volumes by Marcel Proust.The contribution of France to the world of literature cannot be taken lightly. The famous opening paragraphs of Swann’s Way, in which the narrator describes his habit of going to bed early as a child, typify Proust’s ability to mine insight from apparently insignificant events. Swann's Way tells two related stories, the first of which revolves around Marcel, a younger version of the narrator, and his experiences in, and memories of, the French town Combray.

A third-person novella within Swann's Way, 'Un Amour de Swann' is sometimes published as a volume by itself. Swann's Way is divided into four parts: 'Combray I', 'Combray II', 'Un Amour de Swann', and 'Noms de pays: le nom'. When published it was advertised as the first of a three-volume novel. Proust eventually arranged with the publisher Grasset to pay the cost of publication himself. The first part (Swann's Way) was rejected by a number of publishers.

Proust continued to work on it until his final illness in the autumn of 1922 forced him to break off. In Search of Lost Time follows the narrator's recollections of childhood and experiences into adulthood during the late 19th century to early 20th century aristocratic France, while reflecting on the loss of time and lack of meaning to the world. Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust, known as Marcel Proust, was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental novel In Search of Lost Time earlier rendered as Remembrance of Things Past.

Proust swann's way