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How does the ending of In Search of Lost Time give the novel a circular structure?

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Portrait of French author Marcel Proust, seated with his hand resting thoughtfully against his chin, wearing a dark suit and looking directly at the camera. — Marcel Proust French author Marcel Proust wrote what is considered one of the supreme achievements of modern fiction, the seven-part autobiographical novel *À la recherche du temps perdu* (1913–27; *In Search of Lost Time*).

The ending of In Search of Lost Time (À la recherche du temps perdu) creates a circular structure because the narrator, after a lifetime of searching for meaning, finally realizes that the true subject of his work is his own past.12

At the novel's conclusion, during a reception at the Princesse de Guermantes’s home, the narrator experiences a series of involuntary memories that reveal that the beauty he encountered throughout his life is eternally preserved. This epiphany allows him to overcome his previous despair and renunciation of his literary ambitions. Consequently, he resolves to begin writing the very book that the reader has just finished experiencing. By ending with the narrator’s decision to start the project that constitutes the novel itself, Proust completes a cycle where the conclusion serves as the genesis of the work, effectively linking the end of the narrative back to its inception.12