Novelistic infrastucture: Reading novels from other times I like to take note of the social and material world that underlies the action. In Proust’s Swann’s Way, set in late 19th-century France, characters are always sending one another notes/letters that are obviously being delivered the same day: “I won’t be able to attend tonight’s supper after all,” the sort of thing for which we now use texting. These rapid-fire notes are a big part of everyday life, as digital messages are now. Did France at that time have a postal system that delivered messages the same day? I’m doubtful. Since the main characters are all well off, with multiple servants, I’m guessing that some servants’ jobs included shuttling notes around town.