The French rose from Manchester: in search of Proust’s forgotten muse
The poignant story of the Englishwoman Marie Nordlinger is told in a new book about her life with the writer
December 2023
The Audio Long Read
Best of 2023: Proust, ChatGPT and the case of the forgotten quote – podcast
Letter: AS Byatt obituary
October 2023
The books of my life
Richard Armitage: ‘I used to stand on the Lord of the Rings to reach the top shelf in my wardrobe’
The actor and author on his love of fantasy fiction, the wisdom of Marcus Aurelius, and why he doesn’t want a second bite of Proust
September 2023
The Audio Long Read
Proust, ChatGPT and the case of the forgotten quote – podcast
The long read
Proust, ChatGPT and the case of the forgotten quote
November 2022
Where to start with
Where to start with: Marcel Proust
Reading Proust aloud: ‘How can it be that deeply flawed and terrible humans have the capacity to create?’
October 2022
In search of lost toast: Paris show reveals origins of Proust’s madeleines
Previous versions of French novel featured stale bread, toast and biscuit as trigger for author’s childhood memories
April 2022
The books of my life
Hanif Kureishi: ‘Racism makes people mad – it’s necessary to deal with this in fiction’
The writer on Freudian dreams, Tom Sawyer, and what ER Braithwaite taught him about race
August 2021
From the Observer archive
From the archive: celebrating the centenary of Marcel Proust, 1971
Madeleine moments 100 years after the great writer’s birth. By Chris Hall
March 2021
The Guardian view on new work from Proust: more lessons from lockdown
Editorial: Rediscovered early texts offer fresh insights from an author who created his masterpiece in self-isolation
February 2021
Unseen work by Proust announced as ‘thunderclap’ by French publisher
The Seventy-Five Pages, out next month, contains germinal versions of episodes developed in In Search of Lost Time and opens ‘the primitive Proustian crypt’
October 2020
Tristram Kenton at the Guardian
Pause for the camera: the best of Harold Pinter – in pictures
Revisit the work of one of Britain’s greatest playwrights in the month that he would have turned 90
August 2020
Book of the day
A Saint from Texas by Edmund White review – a delicious, salacious romp
Edmund White’s tale of twin sisters fleeing 50s Texas, one to a convent, the other to a glitzy life in Paris, is full of Proustian insight
July 2020
Short and sweet: the best stories to read right now
Thought-provoking, intense and consumed in one sitting, do short stories make for a perfect reading experience? Chris Power finds out, and shares the all-time greats
March 2020
Lockdown culture
Got 150 hours? Great audiobooks to listen to on lockdown
From Ian McKellen reading Homer to Bill Bryson on the body, these audiobooks can expand your horizons, even when you can’t go out
January 2020
Books that made me
Isabel Allende: ‘The Female Eunuch confirmed I was not crazy’
The novelist on reading fairy tales as a child and the influence of Gabriel García Márquez
November 2019
Revealed: uncensored diaries of the Tory MP who partied with Nazis and the idle rich
The gossipy writings of Henry ‘Chips’ Channon who recorded the decadence of interwar London are to appear in full at last
September 2019
Lie With Me by Philippe Besson review – a French bestseller
Full of Proustian echoes, this story of gay adolescence deals with complex issues of class, shame and secrecy
