Combray (French pronunciation: [kɔ̃bʁɛ] ⓘ) is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy in north-western France.
[3] The commune is part of the area known as Suisse Normande.
[4] 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).
[4] The commune is made up of the following collection of villages and hamlets, Les Gosselins, Les Soyers, Le Hamel, Le Bas de la Courrière and Combray.