Which childhood places inspired the setting of Combray in Marcel Proust’s novel?

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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 setting of Combray in Marcel Proust’s novel À la recherche du temps perdu was inspired by the author's own childhood experiences. Specifically, the fictional village is a composite created from the two locations where Proust spent his childhood holidays: Illiers and Auteuil.1