In Search of Lost Time, Vol 2: Within a Budding Grove - Softcover

Proust, Marcel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099362317 ISBN 13: 9780099362319

Publisher: Vintage Classics, 1996

Synopsis

THE ACCLAIMED FULLY REVISED EDITION OF THE SCOTT MONCRIEFF AND KILMARTIN TRANSLATION

Within a Budding Grove describes the first shoots of an astonishing love affair. When Proust's adolescent narrator travels from Paris to the sunny seaside town of Balbec he meets an intriguing set of new acquaintances who provide him with both friendship and entertainment. Most significantly of all he meets a dark-haired girl with sparkling eyes and a tiny beauty spot on her chin: the mysterious Albertine, who will become the great love of his life.

About this title

About the Author

Marcel Proust was born in Auteuil in 1871. In his twenties he became a conspicuous society figure, frequenting the most fashionable Paris salons of the day. After 1899, however, his suffering from chronic asthma, the death of his parents and his growing disillusionment with humanity caused him to lead an increasingly retired life. He slept by day and worked by night, writing letters and devoting himself to the completion of A la recherche du temps perdu. He died in 1922 before publication of the last three volumes of his great work.

From the Back Cover

'As close to being a definitive English version of the great novel as we are likely to get.' Allan Massie, Scotsman

In Within a Budding Grove, the second volume of Proust's great novel, the narrator emerges as an actor in the drama of his own life, and as an avid explorer of new worlds - social, sexual and artistic. Swann has now dwindled into a husband for his former mistress Odette, and their daughter Gilberte becomes the adolescent narrator's playmate and tantalising love-object. We move from Paris to the seaside town of Balbec, from ritualised social performances to midsummer spontaneity, and from Gilberte to her successor Albertine. In Balbec, the narrator is befriended by the painter Elstir who introduces him both to the craft of painting and to the mysterious 'little band' of girls. An artistic education is thus intricately interwoven with a journey of sexual self-discovery.

This fully revised translation of the definitive text has incorporated significant new material. As a result, Proust's masterpiece emerges with renewed freshness and authority. Each volume contains notes, addenda and a synopsis.

Edition details

• Publisher: Vintage Classics
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0099362317
• ISBN 13: 9780099362319
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 656