A l'Ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs, the second volume of A la recherche du temps perdu, appeared in 1919, six years after Du Côté de chez Swann. Deemed physically unfit for military service, Proust was able to spend the trying years of World War I writing his ever-expanding novel. Once it became possible for Paris publishing houses to resume operations, Proust was in contact with his editor at Gallimard, and began the arduous process of correcting proofs for what would be one of the most beautiful sections of his work. Although A l'Ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs initially received mixed reviews, a few short months later, in December 1919, it was awarded the Prix Goncourt, the most coveted of France's literary prizes.

The fact that Proust's poetically evocative work received more votes from the Goncourt jury than Roland Dorgelès's Les Croix de bois, a patriotic and sentimental novel glorifying the sacrifices of simple men during the war, added an element of controversy to the award, perhaps boosting the sales of a volume that, until that time, enjoyed the esteem of literary connoisseurs more than popular appeal. From 1919 until his death on November 18, 1922, Proust's notoriety as a writer was to increase steadily. During the final years of his life, which were spent in unremitting artistic labor, the appearance of successive volumes of the Recherche prompted considerable interest, not only in the French press, but throughout the literary centers of Europe.