In Search of Lost Time [volumes 1 to 7]

by Marcel Proust

“All this,” the reader will remark, “tells us nothing as to the lady’s failure to oblige; but since you have made so long a digression, allow me, gentle author, to waste another moment of your time in telling you that it is a pity that, young as you were (or as your hero was, if he be not yourself), you had already so feeble a memory that you could not recall the name of a lady whom you knew quite well.”

Who is the narrator? Who is the author? Have the two met? Now we can see that this is a game well played by both. The joke is on us!