Marcel Proust's combination of solitary genius and passionate observance of social custom has made him an object of fascination to generations of readers captured by his great masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time. Mary Ann Caws, the acclaimed author of Virginia Woolf, succinctly and vividly captures the details of Proust's life, from his daily routines to the elite social circle that fascinated his youth. Containing lavish illustrations and photos-including Proust's favorite paintings, portraits of the people he was close to, sources for his fictional characterizations (of Sarah Bernhardt, Emile Zola, Alfred Dreyfuss, and others), scores of the music he loved, manuscripts, sketches, and the places dear to him and central to the great novel that was his life's work-Marcel Proust offers readers the unique opportunity to partake in the author's vision and to see him as his contemporaries did.