À la Recherche du temps perdu, book 7/7

This is the final volume of À la recherche du temps perdu, in which the narrator continues his worldly adventure in the circles of Parisian high society. But time is running out and the calling of writing, while becoming more precise and urgent, leaves the narrator weary and frustrated. Life offers him too little material and he does not feel up to his immense literary ambition. Yet, life goes on and revelations follow one another until the final epiphany of the "ball of masks" during the party at the Prince of Guermantes' house where readers find all the characters shaped by the passing of time. Swann's way and Guermantes' way collide, the past returns, vivid and clear, in a succession of involuntary reminiscences, and the artistic vocation is comforted. The circle is closed. It is soon time to finally regain what was lost –and start to write.

We read this book in the fall and winter of 2022.