In Search of Lost Time: Time Regained, By: Marcel Proust

I once read a review on Proust's work that authoritatively informed me that by reading In Search of Lost Time it would make me a more perceptive reader and a better writer. Having just finished the series, I can't vouch for that yet but I can say that it was the most challenging, enriching, and comprehensive narrative I've ever read. Proust was a master of words. There must be a million ways to express the pain of losing a loved one, the fear and anxiety of knowing you have been cheated on, the pride and joy of success, and the melancholy of contemplating death. And Proust used them all. The pain was palpable, but throughout the series, as he ruminated about his life and the lives of his many friends and acquaintances, his neurotic rambling was often astoundingly humorous.

Volume VII, the conclusion of In Search of Lost Time, brings the reader full circle. Twenty years have past since Marcel entered society. He suffered love that didn't last, and friendships that he came to feel "only existed in his mind". He never married nor had children. He had always intended to write that great novel and accumulated pages upon pages of material but was always so easily distracted. And even though he was a part of the highest circles of society, after he lost Albertine, he moved back to Combray (where he spent his childhood) and became a recluse. Now suffering poor health and depression he fears he will never fulfill his life's goal and become a successful writer. He realizes all those years of idle play going to "barbarian festivals called dinner parties" was just wasted or "Lost Time".

In many ways Time Regained was my favorite of the series. After a prolonged absence from society Marcel attends a reception at the Guermantes'. Proust uses this "dinner party" scene (over 250 pages) to bring together all the primary characters of the series. It's a colossal reunion. Marcel gets to see who survived World War I and who triumphed in society. The setting is the same, but everything has changed. Many of the revered are now white haired and wrinkled, feeble and obsolete. Marcel is forced to face the harsh reality that he too is aging, running out of time. But while at the dinner party Marcel makes a miraculous discovery. He begins to have a vivid recollection of forgotten incidents from his past and has the joyous revelation that he could still produce his opus, or at least he will try, and perhaps if his health holds out, he will succeed. The conclusion of In Search of Lost Time, Time Regained is a precious culmination of Marcel's visual perceptions of all the society people and his philosophical reflections of growing old, the regrets of lost time, and the hope of regaining one last chance to find meaning in life.

Ironically, Proust died before the last three volumes of In Search of Lost Time were ever published.

Rated 5 Stars. I use a rating scale of 1 to 5. Books rated 1, I seldom finish; books rated 2, I usually finish but would never recommend to anyone. 5 is the highest rating.