WITHIN A
BUDDING GROVE
by
MARCEL PROUST
TRANSLATED BY
C. K. SCOTT MONCRIEFF
THE MODERN LIBRARY
PUBLISHERS: NEW YORK
_Copyright_, 1924, _By_ THOMAS SELTZER
TRANSLATOR'S DEDICATION
_To_
K. S. S.
That _men in armour may be born
With serpents' teeth the field is sown;
Rains mould, winds bend, suns gild the corn
Too quickly ripe, too early mown._
_I scan the quivering beads, behold
The features, catch the whispered breath
Of friends long garnered in the cold
Unopening granaries of death_,
_Whose names in solemn cadence ring
Across my slow oblivious page.
Their friendship was a finer thing
Than fame, or wealth, or honoured age._
_And--while you live and I--shall last
Its tale of seasons with us yet
Who cherish, in the undying
The men we never can forget._
Bad Kissingen, C. K. S. M.
July 31, 1923.
CONTENTS
PART I
Madame Swann at Home
_A break in the narrative: old friends in new aspects--The
Marquis de Norpois--Bergotte--How I cease for the time being
to see Gilberte: a general outline of the sorrow caused by a parting
and of the irregular process of oblivion._
Place-Names: The Place
_My first visit to Balbec_