Marcel Proust1913Literary fiction

Swann's Way

Swann's Way by Marcel Proust has 195,296 words, about 13 h 1 min of reading.

words
195,296
Reading time
13 h 1 min
Listening time
21 h

Very long Longer than 85% of the other 735 books here.

Compare with another bookAll books by Marcel Proust

At a glance

Novel by Marcel Proust.

Author
Marcel Proust1871–1922
First published
1913
Original language
French
Readers
Adult
Length
Very long120,000 to 200,000 words
Readers' rating
4.1 out of 5from 142 ratings on Hardcover

How long it takes to read

About 13 h 1 min at 250 words a minute, or 21 h as an audiobook.

Reading speedWhole bookAt 30 minutes a day
Careful200 words a minute16 h 16 min33 days
Average250 words a minute13 h 1 min27 days
Fast300 words a minute10 h 51 min22 days

Swann's Way

Read or listen

Swann's Way is in the public domain: these editions are free to download, read and share.

Compared with other books

The books closest in length, and a few well-known ones for scale.

  1. 1War and PeaceLeo Tolstoy587,287Compare
  2. 2The MoonstoneWilkie Collins196,206Compare
  3. 3Empire of StormsSarah J. Maas195,332Compare
  4. 4Swann's WayMarcel Proust195,296
  5. 5VilletteCharlotte Brontë194,841Compare
  6. 6MurtaghChristopher Paolini194,232Compare
  7. 7The Fellowship of the RingJ. R. R. Tolkien177,227Compare
  8. 8Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen121,970Compare
  9. 9Harry Potter and the Philosopher's StoneJ. K. Rowling76,944Compare
  10. 10The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald47,094Compare

Counted from the text

Automated estimates from the selected Project Gutenberg text; it may include a preface or notes.

Words in the text
195,296
Dialogue
15%of the words are inside quotation marks
Vocabulary
436 different words in every 1,000Distinct words in the sampled text; this does not measure writing quality.

Where the numbers come from

The word count comes from the sources below.

The word count is Musael’s own count of the Project Gutenberg text, which can include a preface or notes.

Checked on 2026-10-27. Page counts change from edition to edition.

Questions

How many words is Swann's Way?

Swann's Way by Marcel Proust has 195,296 words.

How long does it take to read Swann's Way?

About 13 h 1 min at 250 words a minute, or 21 h as an audiobook.

How many days to read Swann's Way at 30 minutes a day?

About 27 days at an average reading speed.

Who wrote Swann's Way?

Swann's Way was written by Marcel Proust and first published in 1913.

Writing a book of your own?

Musael counts every chapter as you write, keeps the plan beside the draft and checks names and facts across the book.

Start writing