Marcel Proust - Within A Budding Grove (1919)

Within A Budding Grove (1919)

Within A Budding Grove - By far my favorite book in the In Search Of Lost Time series by Marcel Proust - is the second in the series. The magic of Proust is the way in which he is able to weave his narrative of romance, philosophy and the stories of his wealth of characters into a mosaic of tantalizing and beautiful prose.

Proust, or "the narrator" is such an egotist, though he does admit it, I am awed at how I can love his writing and continuously eat up page after page considering how self-absorbed he is. I guess this is one of the wonder's of the book, how well you come to love listening to this self-obsessed narrator daydream about and review his life experiences. 

Throughout the book Proust concludes his prosaic pieces with a sort of philosophical determination that adds depth to the narrations. I must add, it is quite necessary to read Swann's Way prior to Within A Budding Grove. Without having read Swann's Way first, the beautiful scenes of Balbec and Odette won't make much sense, yet Within A Budding Grove is both a peak and the much superior book to Swann's Way.