Marcel Proust

About Marcel Proust

Marcel Proust (1871–1922) was a towering figure in modern literature, primarily celebrated for his monumental, multi-volume novel cycle, *À la recherche du temps perdu* (In Search of Lost Time). This work is a profound exploration of involuntary memory, time, and consciousness, cementing his place as one of the most stylistically innovative and influential writers of the 20th century. This depth of cultural and artistic contribution earns him a high historical importance ranking of #481 in MIT's Pantheon project.

Proust's significant historical standing does not perfectly translate to modern digital attention, though his case is not one of extreme neglect. In 2025, his Wikipedia page accrued approximately 607K annualized views. While a substantial number, this level of attention puts him in a similar bracket to contemporaries like Kurt Vonnegut (#849 importance, 1.0M views) and Arthur Conan Doyle (#652 importance, 935K views), suggesting a moderate, but perhaps not proportional, recognition compared to his very high HPI rank. His Attention Gap is calculated at approximately 1x, indicating his attention is relatively in line with his historical rank, falling between those who are vastly over- or under-recognized.

Despite this relatively balanced attention quotient, the trend data suggests a slight cooling: his views saw a year-over-year decline of -2.8% and a quarter-over-quarter momentum drop of -2% from Q1 to Q3 in 2025. This indicates that while he remains historically important, his presence in the current internet conversation is subtly waning.