Front matter

by

MARCEL PROUST

TRANSLATED BY

C. K. SCOTT MONCRIEFF

THE MODERN LIBRARY

PUBLISHERS: NEW YORK

Copyright, 1924, By THOMAS SELTZER

TRANSLATOR'S DEDICATION

To K. S. S.

That men in armour may be born With serpents' teeth the field is sown; Rains mould, winds bend, suns gild the corn Too quickly ripe, too early mown. I scan the quivering beads, behold The features, catch the whispered breath Of friends long garnered in the cold Unopening granaries of death, Whose names in solemn cadence ring Across my slow oblivious page. Their friendship was a finer thing Than fame, or wealth, or honoured age. And—while you live and I—shall last Its tale of seasons with us yet Who cherish, in the undying The men we never can forget.

Bad Kissingen,C. K. S. M.

July 31, 1923.

CONTENTS

PART I

Madame Swann at Home

A break in the narrative: old friends in new aspects—The Marquis de Norpois—Bergotte—How I cease for the time being to see Gilberte: a general outline of the sorrow caused by a parting and of the irregular process of oblivion.

Place-Names: The Place

My first visit to Balbec

PART II

Place-Names: The Place (continued)

First impressions of M. de Charlus and of Robert de Saint-Loup—Dinner with Bloch and his family.

Seascape, with Frieze of Girls

Dinners at Rivebelle—Enter Albertine.

WITHIN A BUDDING GROVE