De esthetische speelruimte van Marcel Prousts A la recherche du temps perdu [The Esthetic Space of Marcel Proust's “À la recherche du temps perdu”]

Missinne, Lut; Vergote, Dorine

Abstract

The Esthetic Space of “À la recherche du temps perdu” À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time) is much more than a novel based on the memories of Marcel Proust, irrespective of whether it was distorted by time or transformed by imagination. Capable of resisting time, it is a work of art which gives tangible form to Proust’s art theory. In this article, we explore how Proust realizes this by applying a whole range of unprecedented narrative strategies. We argue that through the use of several universalizing devices, he detaches an autobiographical narrative from its specific direct references to existing realities. This process of fictionalization is supported by a primordial preoccupation with style. The result of this, as Gilles Deleuze formulates it, is a novel as an esthetic space, beyond time, which has the capacity to show the reader new relationships between extremes that, without the author, would never have met.