First 20 pages of Place Names, The Place: In Search of Lost Time in miniature

The second part (Place Names - The Place, how typically odd and Proustian that phrase is) of Marcel Proust's "In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower" starts off with some of his greatest, most memorable, most representative writing - this would be an excellent starting point for anyone curious about whether they would like to try reading the whole Search of Lost Time: this section recounts the narrator's (M's) summer visit to the Grand Hotel in the fictive town of Balbec-Plage. Among the great elements of the first 20 or so pages: M. is nervous about leaving his familiar Paris, doctor suggests he drink some beer or liqueur so as not to have an asthma attack, we get some hilarious passage of M. under alcohol euphoria (the beautiful shiny silver buttons on the conductor's jacket - what a fine fellow!), terrific description of the hotel and the officious manager, the elevator/lift - like a captive squirrel - M. nervous first night in hotel room and thinking about familiarity and habit and the terror of thinking that someday those you love will be gone and eventually you won't miss them - the horror of thinking of yourself in the future as not missing someone you love now - who will you be then?; first walk in Balbec and the disgust at the crowds; visit to the church he'd longed to see in Balbec and deep disappointment at seeing the real thing in mundane surroundings rather than pure as in a gallery; the Asperger-like obsession with the names or railroad stations; the confrontation with the nobility snobs who claim their own tables in the dining room - so much, a Search for Lost Time in miniature.