Valentin Louis Georges Eugne Marcel Proust (French: [masl pust]; 10 July 1871 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel In Search of Lost Time ( la recherche du temps perdu; with the previous English title translation of Remembrance of Things Past), originally published in French in seven volumes between 1913 and 1927. He is considered by critics and writers to be one of the most influential authors of the 20th century.