French writer classified as one of the greatest French novelists of the 1900’s. An author of complex style, he was called immoral and decadent for several decades before he was recognized. His most noted work was “Remembrance of Things Past.”
Proust was born to bourgeois parents, the son of a doctor and a mother from a rich and cultured Jewish family. From his childhood and throughout his life, Proust suffered from chronic asthma attacks. He was given a good education and his literary talent emerged during his high school years. In 1896 he published his first book, a collection of short stories, essays and poems which was not too successful. He devoted several years to translating and annotating the works of the English art historian John Ruskin.
His health began to fail in 1902 when he was 31. Proust was reluctantly obliged to lead an extremely retiring and careful lifestyle. The death of his mother in September 1905 set him into a period of deep mourning and introspection. In February 1907, he published an article in Le Figaro in which he attempted to analyze two elements which would be fundamental to his future psychological approach to literature: memory and guilt.
While continuing to write essays of literary, artistic and sociological criticism, he began to work on a novel. Gradually, all of his planned projects became part of a single larger work. For many years, Proust appeared to have left the literary scene, as he was preclusively reading a great deal and meeting only with close friends for discussions. With a long and leisurely time on his hands, he concentrated on his most important work.
In May 1913 he chose the title of his novel, “À la Recherche du Temps Perdu.” The first of a series, which eventually amounted to 15 volumes, was published in November 1913 by Proust himself as he had trouble finding a publisher who would handle his work.
War delayed further publication until June 1919, but his book won the Prix Goncourt in December of that year.
For the last three years of his life Proust never stopped working on the series, and it was during these years that three more volumes appeared, in October 1920, May 1921 and April 1922.
His greatest influence did not come until after his death of pneumonia on 18 November 1922, Paris. The remaining volumes of his novel, which he had finished but not completely revised, were published by his brother Robert in 1923, 1925 and 1927.
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