Widely considered the greatest French novelist of the twentieth century, Marcel Proust’s first book, published at the age of twenty-five, was not a novel but a collection of short stories, poems and sketches. Most of the pieces in Les Plaisirs et les jours [Pleasures and Days] had already appeared in journals: Proust’s purpose, in bringing them together, was to make a name for himself on the literary scene, and perhaps also to assuage his parents’ request that he should, well, get a real job. Published by Calmann-Lévy at Proust’s own expense, and following three frustrating years of preparation, the book was expensive and sales were insubstantial. Disappointed, though not discouraged from writing, Proust would spend the next seventeen years perfecting the literary skill already quite evident in this early work, eventually publishing the first volume...
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Citation: Richardson, Yasmine. "Les Plaisirs et les jours". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 January 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35862, accessed 13 December 2025.]
