The world of Marcel Proust

An excellent introduction to Marcel Proust and the Belle Époque world he both inhabited and immortalized in his great novel. Designed as a coffee table book, its chief importance are the pictures that dominate the text. A product of it's time, Maurois' essay barely mentions Proust's homosexuality except to say he fought an inconclusive duel when accused of being one. There are better biographies, but none so well illustrated. There is much hinted at in the photograph captions, but nothing is explored further