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Reading a new translation of Proust! Volume 2, Session 1 of 7.
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.

We now turn to In the Shadow of Girls in Blossom/Flower, the second volume of Marcel Proust’s monumental In Search of Lost Time. Here the unnamed narrator leaves the closed world of Combray and the drawing rooms of Paris for the seaside resort of Balbec. Amid the shifting light of the Normandy coast he encounters a band of adolescent girls whose presence awakens new desires, rivalries, and the first stirrings of adult consciousness. Proust continues his exquisite exploration of memory, time, and social observation, deepening the themes begun in the opening volume while introducing some of the series’ most luminous and enduring characters.

Editions (available from your local library or online):

  • In the Shadow of Girls in Blossom, translated by Charlotte Mandel. Oxford University Press, 2025. ISBN: 9780192845672. $14+
  • In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower, edited by William Carter. Yale University Press, 2015, ISBN: 9780300185423 New: $26

How to Read Proust [video]:
Hardcore Literature Club [Benjamin McAvoy]

Resources*:*
Summary of prior sessions (Swann's Way)
ISOLT Timeline
Notes & Session Topics [forthcoming]
Henri Bergson influence on Proust

Reading Schedule [using OUP '25 pagination]
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. TBD

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