Marcel Proust

The novel consists of seven volumes: "Swann's Way" (1913), "In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower" (1919), "The Guermantes Way" (1920–21), "Sodom and Gomorrah" (1921–22), "The Prisoner" (1923), "The Fugitive" (1925), and "Time Regained" (1927). The final three volumes were published posthumously after Proust's death in 1922.

In the opening volume "Swann's Way," the narrator dips a small shell-shaped cake called a madeleine into lime tea, and the sensory experience triggers an involuntary flood of childhood memories of the town of Combray. This passage became one of the most celebrated literary illustrations of involuntary memory and how sensory experience unlocks the past.

The novel runs well over 3,000 pages in standard English editions, making it one of the longest novels ever written. The most widely read English translation, by C. K. Scott Moncrieff, was later revised and completed by others, and newer translations include the Modern Library and Penguin editions.

Yes, Proust died on November 18, 1922, before completing the final revisions of the last three volumes. He continued editing from his sickbed almost to the moment of his death, and his brother Robert oversaw the publication of the final volumes through 1927.