Marcel Proust Biography **A trip down memory lane with a touch of extravagance** Imagine a young Parisian from the beginning of the 20th century, with thick brown hair and melancholic look. Drink tea served in a fine porcelain cup with muffins. He dresses with an impeccable, almost dandyish elegance, and his mind exudes exquisite sensitivity. That was **Marcel Proust**, a French writer who gave us one of the masterpieces of universal literature: **In Search of Lost Time**.  **A child prodigy with fragile health**  Born in Auteuil, France, in 1871, Proust was a child prodigy. At the age of 11 he had already devoured Dante's "Divine Comedy" and mastered the piano. However, his health was delicate, marked by asthma and constant allergies. His father was a doctor and researched the disease cholera, to which he left several scientific contributions. His mother was an emigrant from Saint Petersburg, a French colony that had then ceased to be Prussia. He had an o...