This massive, seven-volume novel (one of the longest in all of world literature) by French author Marcel Proust tells the story of an unnamed protagonist called the Narrator who goes through childhood, falls in love, struggles with questions of jealousy and desire, and observes others in their own struggles as he moves through various levels of early 20th-century French society. This work is considered by many to be one of the greatest and most influential novels of the 20th century.