In Search of Lost Time, Volume 5: The Captive, The Fugitive [Hardcover]

Marcel Proust (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 18, 1993 | Series: In Search of Lost Time (Book 5)

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, it is the Penguin Proust that 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.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Proust was the greatest novelist of the twentieth century, just as Tolstoy was in the nineteenth.” —Graham Greene --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Language Notes

Text: English
Original Language: French

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 976 pages
• Publisher: Modern Library (May 18, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679424776
• ISBN-13: 978-0679424772
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 2.5 x 7.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (89 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #917,503 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

169 of 180 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bewilderingly unique, March 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Remembrance of Things Past Volumes 1-3 Box Set (Paperback)

I'm afraid I cannot really quantify "A la recherche dutemps perdu" in terms of a star rating, although I have had togive it 5 stars because I couldn't submit my review otherwise! It took me the best part of two years to read Proust's magnum opus and the question I find myself asking is: was it time well spent? I'm really not sure, even two years later.

The first and most important thing I will say is that the novel is unlike anything you will ever read, and Proust is totally unique among authors. If you thought Tolstoy or Eliot were insightful, Proust digs beneath another ten layers of motive and counter-motive to reveal his truths: there has never been a writer prepared to go to such exhaustive lengths. I'm still not sure exactly what the book is about, either. Nominally it is an exploration of the perception of time and its effects on the mind. Proust shines this light on his protagonist's early years and the high social circles he finds himself moving in. Some of the characters are memorably bizarre - principally the Baron de Charlus, whose incredible arrogance and self-deception will certainly provide the reader with a few surprises.

... Proust's other fascinations with lineage and place names may not be to every reader's tastes but are revealing insights into his incredible pedantry and appetite for minutiae.

The writing itself is often astonishing - Proust's ideas about love, betrayal and jealousy are sometimes diametrically opposed to received wisdom, but when he concentrates his unmistakable genius on these themes it is hard not to agree with his reasoning, however cynical it may be.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend "A la recherche du temps perdu" lightly. Many people won't get past the opening ruminations over the effects of Marcel missing his mother's goodnight kiss. However, for serious literary buffs it is a must. END

163 of 174 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book will change your life, August 27, 1998

By 

B. Thomas at [e-mail] (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Remembrance of Things Past Volumes 1-3 Box Set (Paperback)

"A la recherche du temps perdu" is not simply a book - it is an experience in time-travel. I read the first two volumes at the age of 22, and was overwhelmed by the density, complexity, and beauty of Proust's style (magnificent even in translation), but I could not appreciate the book's deeper emotional resonances because I had not lived long enough or loved intensely enough. Although I am only five years older now, I have suffered through two intense, beautiful, and sorrowful relationships, and these experiences have made rereading Proust one of the most rewarding activities I have ever engaged in. I am half-way through "Le Temps Retrouve" and look forward to starting the whole thing again as soon as I have finished this first reading. Even if you don't have the patience to read the entire cycle, at least read "Du Cote du Chez Swann/Swann's Way," which perfectly encapsulates the effects, styles, and themes of the entire work. If you have ever fallen in love, the section "Swann in Love" in this book will make you really think about this sensation. Proust's style may seem long-winded and pretentious at first, but once you become accustomed to it, you will realize that Proust's way of looking at the world seems to explain much that is mysterious in the human mind and heart. I have no words of praise high enough for this book. It will shock you into realizing how terrible and beautiful life really is, and how complex people are underneath the mask which we present to most other humans we encounter. The paintings of Vermeer (which play an important part in the novel) are the closest visual equivalent to this book - the sheer poetry of everyday existence is deftly and exquisitely communicated. Unlike many novels which are considered great because they deal explicitly with "great themes" - sex, death, and politics - "A la recherche du temps perdu" appears to the casual reader to be about nothing at all - a bunch of descriptions of ordinary phenomena or gossip about society figures - little more than a glorified soap opera. There is not a single word here that is not absolutely necessary, however, and the careful reader will note how many times crucial events happen for which the reader has been prepared by a seemingly trivial incident several hundred pages earlier. Somehow, this book recaptures the experience of being alive more fully than anything I have ever read, including the Bible! Read this book and I guarantee that you will not think the way you did before Proust came into your life.

62 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Begin with Swann's Way, go from there, July 6, 2004

By 

J. Wombacher "J. Wombacher" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Remembrance of Things Past Volumes 1-3 Box Set (Paperback)

Proust's great novel does not need to be read all at one time. I read it one volume at a time and usually took six months to a year off between volumes. I was always able to pick up right where I left off with nothing lost, like visiting old friends. I think it is OK to think of Remembrance of Things Past as a series of novels. I know Proust would disagree with this. It was very important to him that his readers consider carefully the unifying theme and symmetry to which he aspired in the novel, but I think that aspect became less and less tangible as his manuscript grew from 1000 pages originally to 2000, and then from 2000 to the 4000 odd pages it ended up being (he continued to expand the manuscript right up until the time of his death). In any event, the grand theme he designed will not be lost on you if you stay with the novel until the end and it is wonderful when you consider it, but it is not the reason I love the novel so well. Swann's Way, Within a Budding Grove, and The Guermantes Way are decisively the best volumes and, fortunately, they are the first three in that order. If you like Swann's Way but are intimidated by the gargantuan size of the entire series, then plan to read at least the first three volumes. In this way you will have experienced Proust's best material. The entire novel is essentially a fictional autobiography or memoir. It is narrated by a man whose name we are never given, although he does hypothetically suggest the name "Marcel" for himself on one occasion about three-fourths of the way through. The story is inspired by events and people from Proust's life, but it is strictly a fiction. Swann's Way is the only volume in which the narrator is not the central figure in the story. It is, ultimately, a conventional story with several fascinating characters and humorous, razor sharp dialogue. There are several recurring, ingeniously depicted themes in the novel, not the least of which is involuntary memory, and it often reads like a deeply philosophical essay, with Proust wandering off on one of his famous digressions. The philosophical digressions are the best part for me, but I could see why they could be distracting or tedious to some. Proust's sentences quite frequently stretch to 10, 20, or even 30 lines, with multiple subordinating clauses. It can be dizzying. Some have claimed that this makes him a stream-of-consciousness writer. I flat out reject this notion. It is never, ever pretentious or unnecessarily wordy. Literary historians love to bracket Proust in the same category as Joyce (like art historians like to couple, for example, Van Gough and Gauguin), but the two writers are as different as night and day. Every sentence is worth the time in Proust, there are no word games, there is no obscurity, and it is all essential and rewarding. The only complaint I have is that he spends too much time on the theme of jealousy in the later volumes, a theme he covered quite well in Swann's way. Those volumes are worth reading too, but they have a tendency to drag out in a way that the first three volumes don't. Things do pick up a bit with the final volume, Time Regained, where everything comes full circle.