Published in 1918, "In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower", Volume 2 of Marcel Proust’s giant novel, "In Search of Lost Time", is a joy to read.
"In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower" tells a story of separation and emergence. It is Proust’s spectacular dissection of male and female adolescence, charged with the narrator’s memories of Paris and the Normandy seaside. At the heart of the story lies his relationships with his grandmother and with the Swann family. As a meditation on different forms of love, "In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower" has no equal. Here, Proust introduces some of his greatest comic inventions, from the magnificently dull M. de Norpois to the enchanting Robert de Saint-Loup. It is memorable as well for the first appearance of the two figures who for better or worse are to dominate the narrator’s life—the Baron de Charlus and the mysterious Albertine.
"In Search of Lost Time" is composed by seven magnificent volumes: - Volume One: "Swann's Way" - Volume Two: "In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower" - Volume Three: "The Guermantes Way" - Volume Four: "Sodom and Gomorrah" - Volume Five: "The Prisoner" - Volume Six: "The Fugitive" - Volume Seven: "Time Regained"
