Remembrance of Things Past (1917-1927, or In Search of Lost Time) is a novel in seven volumes by Marcel Proust. His most prominent work, it is known both for its length and its theme of involuntary memory, the most famous example being the "episode of the madeleine." It gained fame in English in translations by C. K. Scott Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin. Running to nearly 1.5 million words, it is one of the longest novels in world literature. The novel recounts the experiences of the Narrator while growing up, participating in society, falling in love, and learning about art. The novel began to take shape in 1909. Proust continued to work on it until his final illness in the autumn of 1922 forced him to break off. Proust established the structure early on, but even after volumes were initially finished he kept adding new material, and edited one volume after another for publication.
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