Many characters parade through the home of the Duc and Duchesse de Guermantes, which gives Marcel Proust's narrator a chance to see into their psyches. The third book in his In Search of Lost Time series, The Guermantes Way takes a step back from Parisian culture at the turn of the century and puts all the nobles, officers, socialites and other upper-classers in context. Through stunningly insightful prose and pointed characterizations we not only get a feeling for the malaise of the era, but also a feeling for the themes of excess and degradation that run through the series. | In Search of Lost Time Volume III The Guermantes Way by Marcel Proust, Paperback | Indigo Chapters