I enjoyed this volume the best of the 6. (Modern Library's edition includes The Captive/The Fugitive in one book.) Here Proust ties up his series with meditations on art, society, old age and death. If you read any of my other reviews, you might remember that Proust's writing is strong when it comes to big topics like this and the volume certainly delivers.

Due to the narrator's poor health, he has been absent from society life for quite some time, and a good portion of the book (once again) about him attending yet another society party. However, this time it is like he is attending a 20 year class reunion and he has not seen anyone in that time. We are spared much of the inane dialogue about various aristocrats, but what is there refers to events that have happened in previous volumes. Here I think Proust exhibits his genius because I, the reader along with Marcel must remember the characters and events that are discussed. This actual act of memory reinforces what Proust has been saying throughout In Search of Lost Time, and as well how time can be regained. Definitely the capstone of the book, it is certainly my favorite of Lost Time.