Combray

Combray
Combray
Location within Lower Normandy region Combray
Coordinates:
Country	France
Region	Normandy
Department	Calvados
Arrondissement	Caen
Canton	Thury-Harcourt
Intercommunality	Suisse Normande
Government
• Mayor (2008–2014)	Daniel Margueritte
Area1	4.51 km2 (1.74 sq mi)
Population (2008)2	130
• Density	29/km2 (75/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	14171 / 14220
Elevation	88–230 m (289–755 ft) (avg. 187 m or 614 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Combray is a commune in the Calvados department in the Lower Normandy in north-western France.

Combray is also an imagined village in Marcel Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time), a book which was strongly inspired by the village of his childhood, Illiers, which has now been renamed Illiers-Combray in his honor. Combray is the title of the first part of the first volume of À la recherche du temps perdu, titled Du côté de chez Swann (Swann's Way).

There is a medieval motte-and-bailey castle.

Population

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1962	122	—
1968	123	+0.8%
1975	95	−22.8%
1982	100	+5.3%
1990	98	−2.0%
1999	130	+32.7%
2008	130	+0.0%

See also

• Marcel Proust
• Illiers-Combray

References

• INSEE