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This episode is brought to you by The Cheeks of a Baby.

Tonight, we'll read Overture, the opening to French writer Marcel Proust's

Monumental in Search of Lost Time, which is seven volumes long and first published in 1913.

In Search of Lost Time follows the narrator's recollections and experiences in the late 19th century

and early 20th century high society France while reflecting on the loss of time and lack of meaning in the world.

Let's get cozy.

Close your eyes.

Relax your body into the softness of your bed.

Now, take a few deep breaths.

For a long time, I used to go to bed early.

Sometimes, when I had put out my candle, my eyes would close so quickly that I had not even time to say I'm going to sleep.

And half an hour later, the thought that it was time to go to sleep would awaken me.

I would try to put away the book which I imagined was still in my hands and to blow out the light.

I had been thinking all the time while I was asleep of what I had just been reading,

but my thoughts had run into a channel of their own.

Until I myself seemed actually to have become the subject of my book.

This impression would persist for some moments after I was awake.

It did not disturb my mind, but it lay like scales upon my eyes

and prevented them from registering the fact that the candle was no longer burning.

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