Scott’s Literary Lounge

"À la recherche du temps perdu" or "In Search of Lost Time" (Originally published in English as "Remembrance of Things Past")
Volume One: "Du côté de chez Swann" or "Swann's Way"
By Marcel Proust, 1913
Translation from French by C. K. Scott Moncrieff
"In Search of Lost Time" is considered the 2nd greatest book of all time according to the website, The Greatest Books, which "represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 (as of 7/4/26) 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books."
Marcel Proust is considered the 23rd greatest author of all time according to "The Greatest Books" website.

By Marcel Proust, 1913
Translation from French by C. K. Scott Moncrieff
A note on the "Parts" as these episodes are denoted:
"In Search of Lost Time" is not only challenging due to it's length, but also because of it's extreme lack of chapters or breaks in the text.
"Swann's Way" is, depending on the printing, somewhere in the range of 450-500 pages of text. That entirety is contained within only four "chapters." Later volumes, following "Swann's Way," have many more pages and even fewer chapters. Typically, these "chapters" go on for hundreds of pages with no discernable breaks, stops, or natural podcast episode ending points. Add to this, the fact that paragraph breaks are also not common (dialog is embedded within paragraphs, but still, thankfully, designated by quotation marks), the paragraphs themselves can be truly vast, spanning entire pages or longer, and often the sentences within the paragraphs can reach to dozens and dozens of lines, with, literally, dozens of commas, semi-colons, dashes and parenthesis.
Whew! It's difficult to read this stuff, aloud or otherwise!
But, I'm not complaining! It is challenging to read and produce these episodes for you, but I absolutely love that challenge because I love, love, love reading literature that is this great, aloud.
My point here, is that I have to figure out where and when I'm going to stop each episode so that it makes sense and doesn't interrupt the flow of the writing too much. The "Parts" as I present them to you are my own decisions on where to start/stop each episode. I'm just letting you know, and hope that you have patience with me as I try to present this beautiful, difficult, maddening, masterpiece to you.
Not only is it difficult to read and produce this for you, but I know that it isn't easy to listen to and follow along with. My advice is: take your time! go slowly! pause and back up (repeatedly, if necessary), follow along with a printed text if you can, or even the transcriptions available in Apple Podcasts or YouTube. They're not perfect (they're basically transcribing what I'm saying) but it sure is better than nothing.
Most importantly - don't give up on this...
Please, don't give up...
This is some of the absolute best writing that any one in all of human history has ever produced. You owe it to yourself to experience it at least once in your lifetime.
Thanks for sticking with me on this, and I'll talk to you again soon.
Keep lounging, lounger!
Cheers!  Scott -

By Marcel Proust, 1913
Translation from French by C. K. Scott Moncrieff

By Marcel Proust, 1913
Translation from French by C. K. Scott Moncrieff

By Marcel Proust, 1913
Translation from French by C. K. Scott Moncrieff
For those of you who know, and have been waiting for it, this episode includes the famous "petite madeleine" scene, triggering an involuntary memory in the protagonist, which serves to propel the rest of the story forward.
This scene has been emulated many times over the last hundred years in a variety of different mediums to show how long buried memories can suddenly rise to the surface and change our experiences profoundly. Most memorable, for most of us, is the ratatouille scene from the movie, "Ratatouille," when the stiff, formidable food critic tries the offered dish and is immediately transported back to his childhood, melting his hard heart in the process.
Bon appétit!

By Marcel Proust, 1913
Translation from French by C. K. Scott Moncrieff

By Marcel Proust, 1913
Translation from French by C. K. Scott Moncrieff

By Marcel Proust, 1913
Translation from French by C. K. Scott Moncrieff

By Marcel Proust, 1913
Translation from French by C. K. Scott Moncrieff

By Marcel Proust, 1913
Translation from French by C. K. Scott Moncrieff