About us
The mission of this group is to closely read Marcel Proust's masterpiece: In Search of Lost Time [ISOLT, nee Remembrance of Things Past] and discuss our reading together via Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic. Once back in-person, we'll meet over coffee/tea and pastry in Westwood Village (Los Angeles). We currently offer a separate group reading the text in the original language.
In the hiatus before our sixth journey through ISOLT in English, consider these opportunities for growth through discussion of great literature via Zoom:
• Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu: https://www.meetup.com/proust/
• Classics from the Western Canon: https://www.meetup.com/LetsReadClassics/
• Classics in Philosophy: https://www.meetup.com/History-of-Ideas/
We take 15-18 months to read the seven novels comprising ISOLT only reading as much as we can thoughtfully discuss during our two-hour, bi-weekly Meetups. We may have guest Proustian scholars attend our meetings. In June 2020, we completed our fifth cycle through In Search of Lost Time.
Our sixth cycle began in September 2022 -the centennial of the publication of Swann's Way in English. We handed off to a larger online group reading all of Proust in 2022-23. We started our second cycle reading ISOLT in French in spring 2023. Our next English foray using the Carter Yale Annotated edition of ISOLT is pending assembling a group wanting to meetup in-person in Los Angeles as part of a hybrid seventh cycle through Proust.
HISTORY
A sub-set of veteran Proust readers branched off in 2013 to read other challenging texts: Joyce's Ulysses, Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury; Mann's The Magic Mountain and Tolstoy's War and Peace in 2014; and Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, Woolf's To the Lighthouse, Sterne's Tristam Shandy, Eliot's Middlemarch, Dante's Inferno Don Quixote, Homer's Odyssey and, again, Joyce's Ulysses in 2015-16. In 2016 we added a third sub-group meeting at noon Sundays and have read Virgil's Aeneid, Ovid's Metamorphoses, Milton's Paradise Lost, Melville's Moby-Dick and Becket's Novel Trilogy. In 2019, we consolidated all non-Proust groups into a separate Meetup called "Let's Read! -Classics from the Western Canon [https://www.meetup.com/LetsReadClassics/] Join both to sail the canon while soaring with Proust.
Join any or all sub-groups for the single annual membership fee!
Here is a Complete List of our group's literary explorations 2011-22 [Attendees]:
• Proust Cycle I: July 2011 [6] to February 2013 [8]
• Proust Cycle II: February 2013 [8] to May 2014 [7]
• Joyce, Ulysses: March 2013 [5] to August 2013 [2]
• Faulkner, The Sound and The Fury: September 2013 [4] to October 2013 [3]
• Faulkner, A Light in August: November 2013 [4] to December 2013 [4]
• Mann, The Magic Mountain: January 2014 [7] to May 2014 [3]
• Tolstoy, War and Peace: June 2014 [6] to November 2014 [5]
• Flaubert, A Sentimental Education: June 2014 [7] to August 2014 [7]
• Carter, Marcel Proust: A Life: June 2014 [7] to December 2014 [5]
• Proust Cycle III: June 2014 [8] to November 2014 [1] (suspended following Vol. 3)
• Proust, Pleasure and Days: August 2014 [6] to September 2014 [5]
• Proust, Contre Sainte-Beuve: October 2014 [4] to November 2014 [6]
• Proust, Jean Santeuil: December 2014 [6] to April 2015 []
• Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow: December 2014 [11] to April 2015 [6]
• Albaret, Monsieur Proust: January 2015 [6] to March 2015 [4]
• Watt, Marcel Proust: March 2015 [4] to April 2015 []
• Aciman, The Proust Project: April 2015 [] to May 2015 []
• Woolf, To the Lighthouse: May 2015 [6] to May 2015 [6]
• Proust Cycle IV: September 2015 [24] to May 2017 [12]
• Kristeva, Time and Sense: Proust and the Experience of Literature : April 2015 to June 2015
• Sterne, Tristram Shandy: June 2015 [6] to August 2015 [4]
• Eliot, Middlemarch: June 2015 [9] to Sept 2015 [7]
• Dante, Inferno: October 2015 [11] to November 2015 [12]
• Cervantes, Don Quixote: December 2015 [8] to March 2016 [4]
• Homer, The Odyssey: April 2016 [12] to May 2016 [7]
• Vergil, The Aeneid: May 2016 [3] to June 2016 [2]
• Joyce, Ulysses: June 2016 [10] to December 2016 [10]
• Beckett, Malone/Malloy Dies/The Unnameable: July 2016 [4] to October 2016 [5]
• Munger, Scenes de la vie Boheme: October 2016 [5] (Suspended after second session)
• Milton, Paradise Lost: October 2016 [4] to January 2017 [3]
• Melville, Moby-Dick or The Whale: January 2017 [3] to April 2017 [5]
• Nabokov, Pale Fire: January 2017 [15] to February 2017 [9]
• Borges, Collected Fictions: March 2017 [7] to June 2017 [4]
• Ovid, Metamorphoses: April 2017 [6] to June 2017 [4]
• Flaubert, Madame Bovary: June 2017 [9] to July 2017 [9]
• Joyce, Finnegan's Wake: June 2017 [6] to June 2019 [3]
• Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales: July 2017 [2] to August 2017 [3]
• Gogol, Dead Souls: July 2017 [7] to September 2017 [4]
• Tolstoy, Anna Karenina: August 2017 [8] to November 2017 [5]
• Turgenev, Fathers and Children: October 2017 [7] to November 2017 [6]
• Proust Cycle V: October 2017 [12] to June 2020 [7]
• Proust in French: October 2017 [12] to January 2023 [6]
• Balzac, Cousin Bette: November 2017 [6] to January 2018 [6]
• Woolf, To the Lighthouse: December 2017 [8] to December 2017 [6]
• James, The Portrait of a Lady: January 2018 [7] to March 2018 [6]
• Balzac, Les Chouans: February 2018 [6] to March 2018 [3]
• Balzac, Père Goriot: April 2018 [6] to April 2018 [5]
• Barthes, S/Z: May 2018 [5] to June 2018 [4]
• Conrad, The Secret Agent: April 2018 [7] -April 2018 [6]
• Mann, Buddenbrooks: May 2018 [4] - Sept 2018 [5]
• Stendhal, The Red and The Black: June [6]-July 2018 [5]
• Stendhal, The Charterhouse of Parma: Aug 2018 [7] -Sept 2018 [3]
• Barnes, Nightwood: Sept 2018 [7] to Sept 2018 [7]
• Conrad, Nostromo: Sept 2018 [8] to Dec 2018 [5]
• Marlowe, Doctor Faustus: Oct 2018 [4] to Nov 2018 [4]
• Goethe, Faust: Nov 2018 [5] to Dec 2018 [3]
• Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita: Dec 2018 [6] to Feb 2019 [8]
• Faulkner, As I Lay Dying: Feb 2019 [9] to Mar 2019 [5]
• Dostoyevsky, The Idiot: April 2019 [10] to July 2019 [9]
• Melville, Moby-Dick or The Whale: July 2019 [9] to Dec 2019 [8]
• December 2019: New group with name changed to Let's Read! Classics from the Western Canon
• Proust in French Cycle II: April 2023 [6] to ? []
Previous Proust in English Cycles:
Cycle I: 2011-2018 -Shifted to western classics
Cycle II: 2013-2019 -Shifted to western classics
Cycle III: 2014 [through Guermantes Way] -Shifted to Cycle IV, Then western classics
Cycle IV: 2015-2017 -Shifted to philosophy classics [www.meetup.com/History-of-Ideas/]
Cycle V: 2017-2020 -Restarted ISOLT forming a separate group
Cycle VI: 2022 -[Swann's Way only] 100th Anniversary of Swann's Way in English
Cycle VI: 2026-28 -Oxford World Classics new translations
Upcoming events
4
Le Côté de Guermantes, 6/07/26: pp. 723-749, "Depuis un moment, au désir de"
·OnlineOnlineWe are well over three quarters of the way through Volume Three of À la Recherche du temps perdu: ***Le Côté de Guermantes,*** and 40+ percent through our second cycle reading Proust's epic en français. Join us to read Proust in the original and discuss the joys and sorrows of Marcel in French and English on biweekly Sundays at noon on Zoom.
Thanks to Sue Willen, who is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Proust en français
Date: June 7, 2026
Time: 12 pm PDT**Meeting ID: 874 0267 3282
Passcode: 059090Download the Zoom app for smartphone or computer or both when you sign up at Zoom.us now or when you attempt to join Sunday's session.
Edition: [À la recherche du temps perdu III]:
A Côté de Guermantes. Edition de Thierry Laget et Brian G. Rogers. Folio Classique (numero 2658), Gallimard, 2022 [ISBN: 9782072914621]
See Goodreads for details.
See Bookfinders to buy used [$11+] or new [$14+] under three covers of the definitive edition released over the last 30 years.Schedule of readings [28 sessions] (subject to change):
Lisez jusqu'à:
05/25/25: pp. 47-72, “Et cela m'était d'autant plus"
06/08/25: pp. 72-98, "Mon impression, á vrai dire"
06/22/25: pp. 98-123, "Je sentais que je lui déplaisais"
07/06/25: pp. 123-148, "Quelquefois je n'avais rien entendu"
07/20/25: pp. 148-173, "De même qu'un frère de cet ami"
08/03/25: pp. 173-199, "En effet, au moment où on croyait"
08/17/25: pp. 199-224, "Saint-Loup vint à Paris"
08/31/25: pp. 224-247, "En réalite, ces déjeuners"
09/14/25: pp. 247-273, "Sans doute c'étaient des qualités"
09/28/25: pp. 273-297, "Mme. de Villeparisis revint bientôt"
10/12/25: pp. 297-323, "Elle venait de voir entrer son mari"
10/26/25: pp. 323-348, "Vous n’allez pas ce soir au bal…"
11/09/25: pp. 348-372, "Le même soir, il rencontra M. de Norpois"
11/23/25: pp. 372-398, "Robert ignorait presque toutes"
12/7/25: pp. 398-423, "Malgré cette compétence"
12/21/25: pp. 423-448, "Ma grand-mère se plaignait"
01/04/26: pp. 448-473, "Le médecin fit une piqûre"
01/18/26: pp. 473-499, "Ainsi, quand il m'arrivait"
02/01/26: pp. 499-523, "Cependant je dois dire qu'une"
02/15/26: pp. 523-548, "Robert en arrivant m'avait"
03/01/26: pp. 548-573, "En quittant le vestibule"
03/15/26: pp. 573-599, "Les Guermantes n'étaient pas"
03/29/26: pp. 599-624, "Mais ce cas était le plus rare"
04/12/26: pp. 624-649, "Parmi les éléments qui"
04/26/26: pp. 649-674, "Il l'écrit avec un grand C"
05/10/26: pp. 674-698, "Les Iéna ont le même fauteuil"
05/24/26: pp. 698-723, "Ainsi les espaces de ma mémoire"
06/07/26: pp. 723-749, "Depuis un moment, au désir de"
06/21/26: pp. 749-774, "Le duc rappela le valet de pied"
07/05/26: pp. 774-finPhotos
https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/1/3/f/1/event_473525105.jpeg
https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/7/6/3/c/600_466530268.jpegParking [in Westwood, when we gather in-person again]
$2 - metered street parking per hour
Free - 1036 Broxton garage -first two hours, $1.50/20 mins. thereafter
Free - street parking south of Wilshire Blvd Sundays only.5 attendeesLe Côté de Guermantes, 6/21/26: pp. 749-774, "Le duc rappela le valet de pied"
·OnlineOnlineHappy Father's Day! [USA]
We are well over three quarters of the way through Volume Three of À la Recherche du temps perdu: ***Le Côté de Guermantes,*** and 40+ percent through our second cycle reading Proust's epic en français. Join us to read Proust in the original and discuss the joys and sorrows of Marcel in French and English on biweekly Sundays at noon on Zoom.Thanks to Sue Willen, who is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Proust en français
Date: June 21, 2026
Time: 12 pm PDT**Meeting ID: 874 0267 3282
Passcode: 059090Download the Zoom app for smartphone or computer or both when you sign up at Zoom.us now or when you attempt to join Sunday's session.
Edition: [À la recherche du temps perdu III]:
A Côté de Guermantes. Edition de Thierry Laget et Brian G. Rogers. Folio Classique (numero 2658), Gallimard, 2022 [ISBN: 9782072914621]
See Goodreads for details.
See Bookfinders to buy used [$11+] or new [$14+] under three covers of the definitive edition released over the last 30 years.
One-volume edition: Quarto Gallimard, 1999/2024 [ISBN: 9782073079794] $43+Join the Society des Amis de Marcel Proust: www.amisdeproust.fr
English version: https://www.amisdeproust.fr/en/presentation-en
Membership is 48 euros.
Membership benefits include :- a free copy of the Bulletin Marcel Proust
- reduced prices on other SAMP’s publications
- Personal invitations and reduced prices on events
- Free visits to Proust sites in Illiers-Combray
2025 Bulletin Marcel Proust [ISBN: 9782492318313] 40 euros
Schedule of readings [28 sessions] (subject to change):
Lisez jusqu'à:
05/25/25: pp. 47-72, “Et cela m'était d'autant plus"
06/08/25: pp. 72-98, "Mon impression, á vrai dire"
06/22/25: pp. 98-123, "Je sentais que je lui déplaisais"
07/06/25: pp. 123-148, "Quelquefois je n'avais rien entendu"
07/20/25: pp. 148-173, "De même qu'un frère de cet ami"
08/03/25: pp. 173-199, "En effet, au moment où on croyait"
08/17/25: pp. 199-224, "Saint-Loup vint à Paris"
08/31/25: pp. 224-247, "En réalite, ces déjeuners"
09/14/25: pp. 247-273, "Sans doute c'étaient des qualités"
09/28/25: pp. 273-297, "Mme. de Villeparisis revint bientôt"
10/12/25: pp. 297-323, "Elle venait de voir entrer son mari"
10/26/25: pp. 323-348, "Vous n’allez pas ce soir au bal…"
11/09/25: pp. 348-372, "Le même soir, il rencontra M. de Norpois"
11/23/25: pp. 372-398, "Robert ignorait presque toutes"
12/7/25: pp. 398-423, "Malgré cette compétence"
12/21/25: pp. 423-448, "Ma grand-mère se plaignait"
01/04/26: pp. 448-473, "Le médecin fit une piqûre"
01/18/26: pp. 473-499, "Ainsi, quand il m'arrivait"
02/01/26: pp. 499-523, "Cependant je dois dire qu'une"
02/15/26: pp. 523-548, "Robert en arrivant m'avait"
03/01/26: pp. 548-573, "En quittant le vestibule"
03/15/26: pp. 573-599, "Les Guermantes n'étaient pas"
03/29/26: pp. 599-624, "Mais ce cas était le plus rare"
04/12/26: pp. 624-649, "Parmi les éléments qui"
04/26/26: pp. 649-674, "Il l'écrit avec un grand C"
05/10/26: pp. 674-698, "Les Iéna ont le même fauteuil"
05/24/26: pp. 698-723, "Ainsi les espaces de ma mémoire"
06/07/26: pp. 723-749, "Depuis un moment, au désir de"
06/21/26: pp. 749-774, "Le duc rappela le valet de pied"
07/05/26: pp. 774-finPhotos
https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/1/3/f/1/event_473525105.jpeg
https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/7/6/3/c/600_466530268.jpegParking [in Westwood, when we gather in-person again]
$2 - metered street parking per hour
Free - 1036 Broxton garage -first two hours, $1.50/20 mins. thereafter
Free - street parking south of Wilshire Blvd Sundays only.4 attendeesLe Côté de Guermantes, 7/5/26: pp. 774-fin
·OnlineOnlineHappy Independence Day! [USA]
Herein we complete Volume Three of À la Recherche du temps perdu: ***Le Côté de Guermantes,*** and 40+ percent through our second cycle reading Proust's epic en français. Join us to read Proust in the original and discuss the joys and sorrows of Marcel in French and English on biweekly Sundays at noon on Zoom.Thanks to Sue Willen, who is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Proust en français
Date: July 5, 2026
Time: 12 pm PDT**Meeting ID: 874 0267 3282
Passcode: 059090Download the Zoom app for smartphone or computer or both when you sign up at Zoom.us now or when you attempt to join Sunday's session.
Edition: [À la recherche du temps perdu III]:
A Côté de Guermantes. Edition de Thierry Laget et Brian G. Rogers. Folio Classique (numero 2658), Gallimard, 2022 [ISBN: 9782072914621]
See Goodreads for details.
See Bookfinders to buy used [$11+] or new [$14+] under three covers of the definitive edition released over the last 30 years.
One-volume edition: Quarto Gallimard, 1999/2024 [ISBN: 9782073079794] $43+Join the Society des Amis de Marcel Proust: www.amisdeproust.fr
English version: https://www.amisdeproust.fr/en/presentation-en
Membership is 48 euros.
Membership benefits include :- a free copy of the Bulletin Marcel Proust
- reduced prices on other SAMP’s publications
- Personal invitations and reduced prices on events
- Free visits to Proust sites in Illiers-Combray
2025 Bulletin Marcel Proust [ISBN: 9782492318313] 40 euros
Schedule of readings [28 sessions] (subject to change):
Lisez jusqu'à:
05/25/25: pp. 47-72, “Et cela m'était d'autant plus"
06/08/25: pp. 72-98, "Mon impression, á vrai dire"
06/22/25: pp. 98-123, "Je sentais que je lui déplaisais"
07/06/25: pp. 123-148, "Quelquefois je n'avais rien entendu"
07/20/25: pp. 148-173, "De même qu'un frère de cet ami"
08/03/25: pp. 173-199, "En effet, au moment où on croyait"
08/17/25: pp. 199-224, "Saint-Loup vint à Paris"
08/31/25: pp. 224-247, "En réalite, ces déjeuners"
09/14/25: pp. 247-273, "Sans doute c'étaient des qualités"
09/28/25: pp. 273-297, "Mme. de Villeparisis revint bientôt"
10/12/25: pp. 297-323, "Elle venait de voir entrer son mari"
10/26/25: pp. 323-348, "Vous n’allez pas ce soir au bal…"
11/09/25: pp. 348-372, "Le même soir, il rencontra M. de Norpois"
11/23/25: pp. 372-398, "Robert ignorait presque toutes"
12/7/25: pp. 398-423, "Malgré cette compétence"
12/21/25: pp. 423-448, "Ma grand-mère se plaignait"
01/04/26: pp. 448-473, "Le médecin fit une piqûre"
01/18/26: pp. 473-499, "Ainsi, quand il m'arrivait"
02/01/26: pp. 499-523, "Cependant je dois dire qu'une"
02/15/26: pp. 523-548, "Robert en arrivant m'avait"
03/01/26: pp. 548-573, "En quittant le vestibule"
03/15/26: pp. 573-599, "Les Guermantes n'étaient pas"
03/29/26: pp. 599-624, "Mais ce cas était le plus rare"
04/12/26: pp. 624-649, "Parmi les éléments qui"
04/26/26: pp. 649-674, "Il l'écrit avec un grand C"
05/10/26: pp. 674-698, "Les Iéna ont le même fauteuil"
05/24/26: pp. 698-723, "Ainsi les espaces de ma mémoire"
06/07/26: pp. 723-749, "Depuis un moment, au désir de"
06/21/26: pp. 749-774, "Le duc rappela le valet de pied"
07/05/26: pp. 774-finPhotos
https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/1/3/f/1/event_473525105.jpeg
https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/7/6/3/c/600_466530268.jpegParking [in Westwood, when we gather in-person again]
$2 - metered street parking per hour
Free - 1036 Broxton garage -first two hours, $1.50/20 mins. thereafter
Free - street parking south of Wilshire Blvd Sundays only.5 attendees
Proust, The Swann Way, 1/7, Aug 1, 2026, pp. 7-47
·OnlineOnlineNew translation of Proust!
First-timer or experienced Proustian... Join us for the Proust Readers Support Group's sixth journey -since 2011- through the entire In Search of Lost Time (ISOLT) opus. This time we will be using the new translation (2023-28) published by Oxford World Classics (seven volumes). We also recommend Professor William C. Carter's Annotated ISOLT (Yale UP, six volumes) for background and context.Marcel Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu [In Search of Lost Time, 1913-1927] represents the pinnacle of the modern psychological novel, offering a recursive exploration of consciousness that aligns with our Meetup’s commitment to advanced intellectual inquiry. By undertaking this sequence, the group engages with a profound "evolution of ideas" concerning the fluidity of temporal perception and the architecture of the self.
In The Swann Way, the "Overture" establishes involuntary memory—exemplified by the iconic Madeleine—not merely as nostalgia, but as a phenomenological retrieval of the "total" past. The volume’s bifurcated structure, transitioning from the pastoral childhood impressions of "Combray" to the sophisticated pathology of desire in "Swann in Love," provides a comparative study of how social artifice and internal obsession shape our ontological reality. Proust’s prose, characterized by its labyrinthine syntax and Bergsonian treatment of duration, demands a slow, analytical pace. The work serves as a nuanced meditation on the "intermittencies of the heart" and the redemptive power of aesthetic experience to reclaim a life otherwise lost to the entropic flow of chronological time
Editions (available from your local library or online):
- The Swann Way, translated by Brian Nelson. Oxford University Press, 2023, ISBN: 9780198871521. Used $8+
- Swann's Way, edited by William Carter. Yale University Press, 2013, ISBN: 9780300185430. Used $7+
Reading Schedule [using OUP '23 pagination]:
Aug 01, 2026: Swann, pp. 7-47 [Combray I]
Aug 15, 2026: Swann, pp. 48-108 [Combray II]
Aug 29, 2026: Swann, pp. 108-174 [Combray II]
Sept 12, 2026: Swann, pp. 177-234 [Swann in Love]
Sept 26, 2026: Swann, pp. 234-295 [Swann in Love]
Oct 10, 2026: Swann, pp. 295-353 [Swann in Love]
Oct 24, 2026: Swann, pp. 357-397 [Place Names]
Nov 07, 2026: Blossom, pp. 5-65 [Madam Swann's Circle]
Nov 21, 2026: Blossom, pp. 65-133 [Madam Swann's Circle]
Dec 05, 2026: Blossom, pp. 133-190 [Madam Swann's Circle]
Dec 19, 2026: Blossom, pp. 193-260 [Place Names: The Place]]
Jan 02, 2027: Blossom, pp. 261-328 [Place Names: The Place]
Jan 16, 2027: Blossom, pp. 328-398 [Place Names: The Place]
Jan 30, 2027: Blossom, pp. 398-466 [Place Names: The Place]
Feb 13, 2027: The Guermantes Way, pp. TBD
June 2027: Sodom and Gomorrah, pp. TBD
Oct 2027: The Captive, pp. TBD
Jan 2028: The Fugitive, pp. TBD
Apr 2028: Time Regained, pp. TBD5 attendees
Past events
803
