Dear Reader:

I discovered the world of Marcel Proust more than twenty years ago and have read his novel several times since then, finding more pleasure with each new reading. Because I have found such personal joy and humor in Proust’s novel, it always saddened and frustrated me that my friends did not share my passion. I have therefore written what I hope is an accessible, irreverent guide to introduce more people to, what I believe is, the greatest novel ever written.

At seven volumes, three thousand pages, and with more than four hundred characters, as well as its towering reputation as a literary classic, Proust’s novel can indeed seem daunting and suitable only for academics and the literary elite. But Proust wrote his novel for the general public, not the academics, and he described it as the sort of book that anybody might pick-up at a railway bookstall before setting-off on a journey.

I wrote this guide in order to return Proust to the general public where he belongs. I hope that it will prove useful for readers and book groups currently reading Proust who want help keeping track of the huge cast and intricate plot. I also hope the guide will tempt Proust-curious new readers to put their 'toe in the water’ and to see that this funny and entertaining novel is still relevant in the twenty-first century. Finally, I hope that my book will prove a useful aide-memoir for fellow Proustians.

The most important message that I wanted to convey in my guide is that Proust is incredibly funny. Sometimes the humor is dry and subtle, other times it is hysterically bawdy, but on every page the humor is always there. This is certainly not your father’s Proust: it's a story of lesbian ladies and debauched dukes gamboling, gambling and gossiping in Paris of the Naughty Nineties!

Welcome to a wonderful new world.

Happy Reading!

Patrick Alexander