Proust's Deadline

Marcel Prousts multivolume masterpiece, la recherche du temps perdu, began to appear in 1913. Over the next fifty years, it gained a reputation as one of the greatest literary works of the twentieth century. But the novels classic image as a completed work was later shattered by the discovery of unpublished drafts, and the war of the Prousts has kept scholars arguing over its definitive form ever since. Christine M. Canos Prousts Deadline presents a concise history of the publishing and reception of la recherche du temps perdu, and sorts out the most important issues that have arisen from the ensuing debates about the text. She ultimately shows how this quintessential book about time tells another story about times passage: the story of Prousts mortal confrontation with the temporality of writing, publishing, and reading.