In search of Proust

Marcel Proust: A Life (Jean-Yves Tadie)

Proustian in its size (the paperback weighs in at 2.5 pounds) and often in its prose, and requiring a Proustian commitment of time, this is without question the biography. I recommend it to anyone who has read and enjoyed the novel, or who like me is re-reading it. Especially after about page 500, it also serves as a field guide to In Search of Lost Time. Reading will go faster if you ignore most of the footnotes!

Marcel Proust: A Biography (Roger Hayman)

This is a splendid piece of work, enjoyable as the biography of a genius even if you're not about to read the novel! Now out of print. Click here to see the second-hand copies available at Amazon. Or use the ABE search box at lower right (use a keyword search, and enter hayman proust as your search terms).

Marcel Proust (Edmund White)

Professor White's neat little biography contains just about everything the casual reader would want to know about the writer, his loves, and his writings. This is the book to read before you attempt Swann's Way.

Proust's Way: A Field Guide to In Search of Lost Time (Roger Shattuck)

Lots of good stuff here, if you're resolute enough to hack through the academic prose and scattergun organization. (It appears to be a pastiche—to use one of Prof. Shattuck's favorite words—of his previously published writings on Proust.)