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Essays and reflections on Marcel Proust, his world, and his enduring relevance.
Thoughts on Proust
Proust on Idleness
Is idleness the root of all evil, as the proverb claims, or, as Kierkegaard suggested, a kind of divine life, provided one is not bored by it? Idle or futile activity is often the byproduct of a life lacking focus and purpose. We all need a clear goal to strive toward. Without a specific and meaningful purpose, we invest minimal effort in our daily lives and resort to meaningless distractions simply to occupy our time, appear busy, and avoid boredom. We fill our days with partying, drinking, oversleeping, and other amusements that offer immediate gratification without the sustained labor that genuine accomplishment demands. Yet even though we instinctively avoid hard work, prolonged idleness eventually becomes intolerable. We prefer doing something rather than nothing. In the absence of a worthy goal, we become like Sisyphus—condemned to futile, repetitive endeavors that provide only superficial meaning.
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Proust & Confinement
The perils of the coronavirus have ushered in an era of self-imposed quarantines and voluntary confinement. In such times, it feels fitting to reflect on the impact of diminished social contact. As inherently social creatures, we crave the company of others; periods of isolation—or worse, total disconnection—run counter to our natural inclinations.
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French Bourgoisie
Class distinctions in French society underwent major changes at the turn of the twentieth century. In In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust examines this social upheaval and illustrates the shifting tides as the aristocracy mixed with the rising bourgeoisie. The origins of the bourgeoisie in Western Europe date back to the Middle Ages, when walled cities offered limited access. Those who lived inside were considered privileged "city people" and were called bourgeois—inhabitants of the bourg or borough—as opposed to the peasants who lived in the countryside. The bourgeoisie consisted mainly of skilled artisans, merchants, and professionals. They served as middlemen between the peasants and the upper classes, which included noblemen, large landowners, and the clergy. Within the bourgeoisie itself, there were several strata based on wealth, occupation, and social position. The lower tier was known as the petite bourgeoisie, while the upper level was referred to as the haute bourgeoisie. In French usage, "petit bourgeois" often carries a derogatory connotation, describing someone with a lower-middle-class mentality whose primary ambition is to emulate the haute bourgeoisie or the aristocracy.
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The Narrator
One of the most enigmatic figures in Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time is the narrator himself. His elusiveness stems from how little we ultimately know about him. His physical appearance, and even his precise age at various stages of the novel, remain largely undefined. The narrator is at once similar to and distinctly different from Proust, inviting readers to constantly compare the author's known biography with the life presented through his fictional counterpart.
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Prix Goncourt
2019 marked the 100th anniversary of Marcel Proust receiving the Prix Goncourt for À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs (translated as "Within a Budding Grove" or, more accurately in many editions, "In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower"). This was the second volume of his seven-volume masterpiece In Search of Lost Time, and the first to be published, appearing in 1918 from Gallimard. The prize was awarded to Proust in December 1919, making him the 17th recipient. Gallimard celebrated the centenary throughout the year with exhibitions and events at the Galerie Gallimard in Paris.
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Odette, the Courtesan
One of the most striking characters in Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time is Odette de Crécy, a woman of dubious reputation who seduces Charles Swann, a wealthy and well-connected aesthete with close ties to the highest levels of French aristocracy. After a long, tormented love affair marked by jealousy, obsession, and painful fascination—and partly because she was pregnant—Swann marries her. In doing so, he effectively exiles himself from the aristocratic circles he once moved in effortlessly. Their daughter, Gilberte, eventually marries Robert de Saint-Loup of the illustrious Guermantes family, one of the most prestigious aristocratic lineages in the novel. Odette's remarkable social ascent thus symbolizes the erosion of traditional class barriers and the gradual dissolution of the old social order at the turn of the twentieth century. At the same time, the narrator's recurring reference to her as a courtesan reveals how French society viewed ambitious women who dared to cross the rigid lines separating their class from the elite.
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Desire
What is the most powerful motivating force in our lives? What drives us to pursue education, career, love, children, a home, travel, and countless other goals? The answer is desire. Desire is the essential engine of human existence, constantly propelling us into action. In our waking hours, we are rarely without some form of desire. Even in moments of boredom or depression, we still yearn to escape those negative states. Without desire, life stalls and loses direction.
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Gossip
A popular 1970s T-shirt bore the words: "Proust is a yenta" — yenta being Yiddish for a gossipy busybody, typically an older woman. The quip is surprisingly apt. While Proust offers profound reflections on memory, love, art, time, and death, his masterpiece is also filled with gossip — both the narrator's own impressions and the whispered judgments passed among characters. Proust explores how we can never fully know another person. Each individual presents only fragments of themselves, and we rely on hearsay and chitchat to piece together a fuller picture. Gossip, in this sense, becomes a central element of social life.
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A Focused Life
Idleness… Is it the root of all evil, as the proverb claims, or, as Kierkegaard suggested, the very essence of a divine life — provided one is not bored by it? Idle, aimless activity — often disguised as leisure — is the hallmark of a life lacking direction and purpose. Human beings need a clear goal to strive toward. Without one, we drift through our days, exerting minimal effort and filling our time with distractions to avoid boredom. We party, drink, oversleep, or chase trivial amusements that deliver quick satisfaction without demanding real work. While we instinctively avoid hard labor, prolonged idleness also becomes intolerable. The result is a futile existence, not unlike that of Sisyphus — forever pushing the boulder uphill only for it to roll back down.
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Misia Sert, A Muse
Misia Sert was an astonishingly beautiful woman born in 1872. Raised in St. Petersburg, where her Polish sculptor father was working on a commission at the Russian Imperial court, she lost her mother — a member of a distinguished Belgian musical family — at birth. She was sent to Brussels to be raised by her grandparents. A musical prodigy, she learned piano as a child sitting on Franz Liszt's lap and later studied under Gabriel Fauré. She moved to Paris as a piano teacher but soon entered the glittering world of Belle Époque society through a series of marriages. Her first husband was Thadée Natanson, a Polish émigré, radical socialist, and founder of the influential journal La Revue Blanche. Her second was Alfred Edwards, founder of the newspaper Le Matin. Rumor had it that Edwards fell in love with Misia while she was still married to Natanson and eventually "acquired" her through a financial arrangement between the two men. Her third and final husband was the Spanish painter and muralist José Maria Sert. He introduced her to morphine and is said to have awakened her sexually. Their marriage was stormy, marked by mutual infidelity and betrayal. Misia coped by throwing herself into society life. Her salon quickly became one of the most coveted in Paris, though she was famously selective about her guests.
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Memory of Place
We begin life in a particular place, and as we move through the world, each new location leaves its imprint on our memory and imagination. These places shape our personal mythology. Proust's famous madeleine episode is not only about involuntary memory but also about a specific place: Combray, the village where the narrator spent his childhood summers. The taste of the little cake dipped in tea suddenly revives an entire world — the church of Saint-Hilaire, the two country walks known as Swann's Way and the Guermantes Way, the blooming hawthorns, and countless other sensory details of a lost childhood landscape.
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Objects
Proust frequently reflects on the power of objects in his writing. For him, an "object" is not limited to material possessions such as a painting or a family heirloom. It can also be something broader or more abstract: a city, a church, a musical phrase, a name, or even an idea. What these objects share is their ability to trigger involuntary memory. The madeleine, the view of the Saint-Hilaire church in Combray, and Vinteuil's musical phrase are classic examples. In the final volume, Time Regained, the narrator comes across a children's book his mother once read to him. Suddenly, a flood of long-forgotten images rushes back. He wonders whether it is the red leather binding or the words inside that awaken these memories. The boundary between the material and the immaterial dissolves, revealing the profound hold objects can have on our subconscious.
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Proust and Innovation
We tend to view our own era as the great age of innovation and technological progress, forgetting that those who lived at the turn of the twentieth century felt exactly the same way. Their time witnessed revolutionary advances such as aviation, photography, cinema, and the telephone. Like any novelty not yet dulled by habit, these inventions filled Proust with wonder. He observed them with a keen, philosophical, and often poetic eye, capturing the fresh excitement of the new. Reading his reflections reminds us of our own astonishment when we first left a voicemail or sent our earliest emails—experiences that quickly became ordinary.
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