Reader guide

1. Open the text

The reader’s home page bears the novel’s title and a large button. Click Commencer la lecture (Start reading): the text opens at the beginning of the first volume.

The reader remembers where you stopped. On your next visit, Reprendre la lecture (Resume reading) takes you back to that page.

In the Actions menu at lower right, Au hasard (Random) opens a randomly selected section from the whole work, and Imprimer (Print) prints the section in view.

2. The toolbar, your dashboard

This bar remains at the top of the screen throughout your reading. On a computer, Sommaire and Rechercher are on the left; in the middle are the part title and current section; the six reading actions are on the right. On a phone it uses two rows: Sommaire, Rechercher and the part or section above; the six actions below.

Focus hides the Sommaire and secondary actions to give the reading room. The command bar remains available. Click it again to restore them. The Échap (Escape) key closes any open panel.

3. Move through the work

Click Sommaire (Contents), at the left of the toolbar. A panel opens with the novel’s seven volumes.

In the middle of the toolbar, the selector shows the current part and lets you change it without leaving the volume.

To go from one section to the next, scroll to the end of the text, where Section précédente (Previous section) and Section suivante (Next section) appear. The left and right arrow keys do the same.

4. Search for a word

Click Rechercher (Search). Enter the word or phrase you want, then confirm: the reader searches all seven volumes. Ctrl + K, or Cmd + K on a Mac, opens this window directly.

Mots entiers (Whole words) is selected by default: mer will therefore not return amertume. Clear it to search within words too. Accents stricts and Casse stricte, cleared by default, distinguish “e” from “é” and capitals from lowercase respectively.

5. Save a quotation

Drag across a passage with the mouse button held down, as when highlighting it. On a phone, press a word and drag your finger. A small bubble appears above the selection with two buttons.

Copier avec la référence prepares everything: paste it into an email, article or lecture. You get three lines:

First comes the quoted passage, then its reference — title, volume in Roman numerals and title, section number — and finally its exact address. That address lets a reader return to the right paragraph.

6. Bookmark a section

You need not select a passage to keep a page close at hand. The Marquer (Bookmark) button in the toolbar — the fifth button, see the illustration in section 2 — places a bookmark on the entire section.

Once used, the button becomes Marquée (Bookmarked). Click again to remove the bookmark.

7. Find your markers

The Repères (Markers) button — the one with a counter — opens the Mes repères (My markers) window. It shows your bookmarked sections first, then your saved quotations below.

On a phone, the same window runs down the screen. Bookmarked sections come first, then saved quotations. Scroll through the dialogue to reach the quotations and their actions, then tap the cross to close it.

8. Keep your markers in this browser

Your markers and quotations remain saved in this browser after you close the page or turn off your computer. They are not transferred automatically to another device or browser. Clearing your browser data deletes them.

Local storage needs no account or sign-in: the reader uses this browser’s storage.

9. Share a passage

The Partager (Share) toolbar button, the fourth one, offers the displayed passage to your device’s apps: email, messages and social networks. If your device cannot do that, the reader instead copies the precise link to the passage, ready for you to paste wherever you wish.

10. Reference links

Proust invokes hundreds of paintings, books, operas, newspapers and real people. The Society has linked 992 of these mentions to a page presenting them: 611 real people, 108 painters, sculptors and architects, 93 literary works, 71 stage and musical works, 87 artworks whose reproduction we offer, and 15 newspapers and periodicals.

These words have a dotted gold underline. When you hover over one, the line becomes solid and the word turns gold.

Clicking opens the reference page in a new tab, so you do not lose your place in the novel. For an artwork it is the museum’s page; for all else it is the French Wikipedia article.

The links are added when the text is displayed: they do not alter a single character of the novel’s transcription. This indexing work belongs to the Society and is published under the Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 licence.

11. View a painting in full size

The 87 artworks whose reproductions we host work slightly differently. A simple click does not take you away: it displays the image full size over the text.

To go directly to the museum page, use the middle mouse button: it opens in a new tab, as other links do.

12. Adjust the display to suit you

The Affichage (Display) button at the far right of the toolbar opens the Confort de lecture (Reading comfort) panel. Every setting changes live as you move a slider.

The panel scrolls: on a shorter screen, scroll down to Liens de référence and Rétablir les réglages.

Your choices are retained from one visit to the next, so you make them only once.

13. Read without links

If the underlines distract you, choose Masquer (Hide) on the Liens de référence (Reference links) row in Confort de lecture. Here is the section 10 passage with links hidden.

The text you then read is strictly that of the edition, with no additions. Return to Afficher (Show) whenever you wish.

14. The edition used

The text served is that of the seven volumes published during Proust’s lifetime and in the years following his death: Du côté de chez Swann (1913), À l’ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs (1919), Le Côté de Guermantes (1920), Sodome et Gomorrhe (1921), La Prisonnière (1923), Albertine disparue (1925), and Le Temps retrouvé (1927): 541 sections, 4,685 paragraphs and a little over 1,205,000 words.

These texts are in the public domain. We use Wikisource transcriptions, proofread and validated page by page by its contributors, under Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0. Each volume comes from a precise revision whose number and date are recorded in our files. Those transcriptions were based on photographs of period editions digitized at Wikimedia Commons — for volumes II to IV, the 1919 edition; for Albertine disparue, a copy digitized by Gallica.

Our only interventions are technical: removing Wikisource navigation markers, cleaning and harmonizing characters, and dividing the text into sections. The text itself is never altered.

At the foot of every section, under Sources et crédits (Sources and credits), Consulter (View) details the source revision, original photographs, contributors and checksums for the displayed volume. The provenance notice can be downloaded from the same window.

15. If you need help

Cannot close an open panel? Press Échap (Escape), at the upper left of the keyboard, or click the cross.

Has the display become odd? Open Affichage (Display) and click Rétablir les réglages (Restore settings).

A typo in the text, a link to the wrong person, an incorrect reproduction, or simply a question: write to contact@amisdeproust.fr and we will correct it. If possible, indicate the volume and section number displayed at the top of the page. This reader is made for Proust’s readers, and improves with your comments.

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