Combray

Combray (French pronunciation: [kɔ̃bʁɛ] ) is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy in north-western France. The commune is part of the area known as Suisse Normande. Combray is also an imagined village in Marcel Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time), a book which was strongly inspired by the village of his childhood, Illiers, which has now been renamed Illiers-Combray in his honor. Combray is the title of the first part of the first volume of À la recherche du temps perdu, titled Du côté de chez Swann (Swann's Way). There is a medieval motte-and-bailey castle.