Marcel Proust (1871-1922)

Marcel Proust (1871-1922) was a French novelist, essayist, and critic. He's a titan of French and world literatures, but don't get sucked in--you're studying for an English literature test.

For the GRE Literature exam, it's enough to know some general facts:

A la Rechere du Temps Perdu
(or, In Search of Lost Time; Remembrance of Things Past)
-A sprawling, largely unplotted fictionalized autobiography.
-Memories often flow from present sensory details.
-The opening discusses memories sparked by the flavor of a madeleine.

Proust doesn't show up often enough on the exam to make him worth reading for test prep, but he's a such a huge influence on so much 20th-century literature, it's worth dabbling on your own if you have time. You can start here.