In search of lost toast: Paris show reveals origins of Proust’s madeleines

The exhibition traces the meticulous process through which Proust produced his monumental seven-volume novel. Photograph: supplied

Before Marcel Proust went into raptures over his petites madeleines he was waxing lyrical over a rusk-like biscuit and before that a piece of stale bread.

The “episode of the madeleines” as it became known, is one of the most celebrated events in his seminal work À la Recherche du Temps Perdu (In Search of Lost Time), encapsulating its theme of involuntary memory.