NP-Proust

[Kai Frederik Lorentzen]

http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/1088/prmID/525

"The new heroes of the Age of Speed---the cyclist, the chauffeur, and 
the aviator---all appear in Proust's novel. Albertine the cyclist is a 
mysterious, erotic creature, while the aviator symbolizes the artist. At 
the beginning of the novel's climactic scene, the narrator, at last 
looking inward for the keys to his past, suddenly feels himself rising 
in flight, like an airman who, hitherto, has progressed laboriously 
along the ground, abruptly taking off. "I soared slowly toward the 
silent heights of memory."

One of the most modern aspects of /In Search of Lost Time/ is that it is 
an open-ended novel, built on the model of the universe. In 1931, Edmund 
Wilson declared this book the literary equivalent of Einstein's theory: 
"Proust has re-created the world of the novel from the point of view of 
relativity. He has supplied for the first time in literature an 
equivalent on the full scale for the new theory of physics." In doing 
so, Proust creates new ways of looking at the world, making /In Search 
of Lost Time/ one of the most complex and stimulating optics that we 
have for viewing our own lives."

Personally I cannot say much about the Einstein reference - like in the 
case of Joyce (about whom I've read this too) I'm not sure it really 
adds something -, but perhaps some of you like to elaborate? The 
"complex and stimulating optics" Carter speaks about here have for me 
primarily to do with the fragmentation of modern urban life. And of 
course with Proust's incredible skills.


On 25.09.2012 19:11, Kai Frederik Lorentzen wrote:
>
>>
>> http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/09/uab_professor_gearing_up_for_a.html
>
> >> Proust, Carter said, isn't dated; in fact, he was writing at 
> another time when technology and upheaval was reshaping the Belle 
> Epoque society of France.
>
> "I think part of the answer is that he is very modern in that he is 
> fascinated by change," Carter said.<<
>
> Quite true. The arrival of new technology - like bicycles, telephones, 
> cars, or airplanes - is pictured in a way that makes one understand 
> how it must have felt for the people at the time.
>
> Proust himself liked to use the théâtrophone, a special form of the 
> telephone that enabled the subscriber to listen to theater and opera 
> performances without having to go there.
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%A9%C3%A2trophone
>
>
>

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