Proust’S Nocturnal Muse 9780231888776

Table of contents :
Preface
Note on Citations
Contents
Introduction
I. Proust’s Early Works
II. Dreams and Their Characteristics in A la recherche du temps perdu
III. The Uses of Dreams in A la recherche du temps perdu
IV. Dreams and Related Phenomena in the Structure of A la recherche du temps perdu
V. The Oneiric Optic in Proust’s Work
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

Citation preview

Proust's Nocturnal Muse

Proust's Nocturnal Muse

By WILLIAM

STEWART

BELL

New York and London

COLUMBIA

UNIVERSITY

PRESS

1962

This study, prepared under the Graduate Faculties of Columbia University, was selected by a committee of those Faculties to receive one of the Clarke F. Ansley awards given annually by Columbia University Press.

Copyright ©

1961, 1962, by Columbia University Press

Library o f Congress Catalog Card Number: 62-13941 Manufactured in the United States of America

To Frances

Preface

An expression of gratitude is due first to the author of A la recherche du temps perdu for the source of intense pleasure and perpetual revelation his work has been and continues to be. It is hoped—but without conviction—that the sincerity of this sentiment will extenuate somewhat the faults, both conscious and unconscious, of the study that follows. Almost all writers on Proust have been compelled, reluctandy perhaps, to attempt a summary or a paraphrase of passages selected f r o m the work of the master.

Although this essay is intended for

readers w h o have some familiarity with the major Proustian texts, it was nevertheless necessary to quote in condensed form passages whose length prohibited quotation in extenso. Often too, limitations of space required the mutilation of paragraphs or sentences, vitiating the very qualities that have made Proust's writings such a rewarding subject for study. For those readers w h o k n o w Proust, it is hoped that the fragments cited here will give rise to total recall of the passages f r o m which they have been removed, and that the m e m o r y will sustain them as they read the pages that follow. A minor proof, if such were needed, of Proust's immortality is that his work has survived intact the scholarly assaults made upon it. It is not without trepidation that one adds a title to the already massive Proustian bibliography. But the inexhaustible fascination his writings inspire is responsible for the great body of critical and inter-

PREFACE

VIII

pretative writings on it produced in the past and being produced in the present. They should be regarded as a tribute to Proust's genius. Proust's novel was written by reading within himself.

Speaking

of the general public that would in turn read it, he said, "they would not be my readers but readers of themselves, my book serving merely as a sort of magnifying glass, such as the optician of Combray used to offer to a customer, so that through my book I would give them the means of reading in their own selves" (II, 1113 [III, 1033]). The possibility that what the cri tic finds in the novel might reveal his own defective vision puts him under a heavy burden of responsibility. Proust foresaw the risks o f misinterpretation from this source: I w o u l d not ask them to praise or dispraise me but only to tell me if it is as I say, if the words they read in themselves are, indeed, the same as I have written (any possible discrepancies in this respect not being always attributable, by the w a y , to any mistake on m y part but to the fact that the reader's eyes w o u l d not be o f the type w h i c h m y book w o u l d

' f i t ' for

comfortable reading in one's o w n self). [II, 1113 (III, 1033)]

By adhering as closely as possible to Proust's own words, his voice will speak directly to the reader o f this criticism; thus avoiding some of the possibilities of error. But, in response to Proust's request, I have been led to say what his words have meant to me, leaving to every reader the task of confronting the propositions set forth in these pages with the Proustian text and his own view o f it. Despite the rationalizations and justifications for this type of study that one can find in Proust's work, my own qualms might have prevented me from carrying out such a project had it not been for the kindness and encouragement o f Justin O'Brien, whose experience and erudition were always available, whose counsel was always helpful, whose criticism was invariably illuminating.

Had it not been for

his suggestion of this subject, the study that follows would not have been written. Finally, I would like to thank Professors Jean-Albert Bédé, Jean P. Hytier, Leon S. Roudiez, Meyer Schapiro and Lionel Trilling,

PREFACE

IX

who read the text in manuscript and offered valuable suggestions and corrections, and Ernest W . Cappel for his help at every stage of the writing and editing. W I L L I A M STEWART B E L L

Mount Holyoke South Hadley, March,

1962

College Mass.

Note on Citations

The necessity of providing translations of the original French used in quotations poses certain problems which have been solved in the following manner. If a published English version is readily available, it is used. However, in all cases the French title of the original work is retained. This was done to avoid the confusion that would have been produced by citing two titles for the same work. Logic might seem to require that only the English title of the work from which the translation is taken be used. However, in a number of instances the desired passage was omitted from the English version, and citation of the French is unavoidable. A further consideration which influenced the choice of the French title is the unfamiliarity of the English title to students and scholars. Frequently, too, there is only a slight, or even nonexistent, connection between the English title and that of the original. For example, the translation by Sylvia Townsend Warner o f Proust's Contre Sainte-Beuve is called Marcel Proust on Art and Literature 1896-1919.

A number of quotations from Proust's correspon-

dence, most of which has not been translated, were taken from the anthology Letters of Marcel Proust, translated and edited by Mina Curtiss. A system of double page refercnccs was devised for use in the footnotes, giving, first, the page reference to the English translation, followed by the page number of the original enclosed in square brackets or parentheses. The initials W S B mark my own translations.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the publishers and authors for permission to quote from the following works: Grove Press, Inc., for Samuel Beckett, Proust, 1957 Éditions Bernard Grasset, for Robert Dreyfus, Souvenirs sur Marcel Proust, 1926 Éditions du Sagittaire, for Léon Pierre-Quint, Marcel Proust, sa vie, son œuvre, 1946 William Heinemann Ltd.. for Georges Piroué, Proust's Way, 1957 Librairie Gallimard, for the "Préface" by Bernard de Fallois to Marcel Proust, Contre Sainte-Beuve, © 1954; for Ramon Fernandez, "La Vie sociale chez Proust" (in Charles Daudet, Répertoire de personnages de "A la recherche du temps perdu "), © 1928; and for Louis de Robert, Comment débuta Marcel Proust, © 1925 Les Éditions Nagel, for Noël Mirtin-Deslias, L'idéalisme de Marcel Proust, 1952 Librairie Pion, for Marcel Proust, Correspondance avec sa mère 1887-1904,

1953;

for Marcel Proust, Correspondance générale, 6 vols., 1930-1936; and for Marcel Proust and Jacques Rivière, Correspondance 1914-1922,

1955

The Hutchinson Publishing Group (Rider and Company), for Marcel Proust, Marcel Proust: Letters to His Mother, translated by George D. Painter Revue des Sciences Humaines, for Jean Rousset, "Notes sur la structure d'A

la

recherche du temps perdu," 1955 Charles Scribner's Sons, for Edmund Wilson, Axel's Castle, 1954 Random House, Inc., for Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past, translated by C. K. Scott Moncrieff and Frederick A. Blossom, copyright ©

1934; and for

Marcel Proust, Letters of Marcel Proust, translated by Mina Curtiss, copyright © 1949 Marcel Proust, Jean Santeuil, copyright© 1956 by Simon and Schustcr, Inc., reprinted by permission of the publishers Marcel Proust, On Art and Literature ¡896-1919,

translated by Sylvia Townsend

Warner, © 1958 by Meridian Books, translation © by Chatto and Windus Ltd., 1957, originally published in French by Librairie Gallimard, Paris, 1954 under the title Contre Sainte-Beuve, has been used by permission of the publisher, Meridian Books, The World Publishing Company

Contents

Preface Note on Citations Introduction I II

Proust's Early Works

IV V

xiii i x3

Dreams and Their Characteristics in A la recherche du temps perdu

III

vii

The Uses of Dreams in A la recherche du temps perdu

52 92

Dreams and Related Phenomena in the Structure of A la recherche du temps perdu

147

The Oneiric Optic in Proust's Work

186

Conclusion

265

Bibliography

271

Index

281

Proust's Nocturnal Muse

Introduction

O n e of the most important keys to understanding the purpose and plan of Marcel Proust's A la recherche du temps perdu is f o u n d in one o f his final statements concerning this his m a j o r w o r k .

Its N a r r a t o r ,

having undergone the spiritual experience that will enable h i m to write the novel, designates t w o muses whose help will enable h i m to accomplish this difficult task. The first o f these muses is involuntary m e m o r y , w h i c h has just brought about the revelation o f Marcel's 1 vocation. T h e second muse is the dream, this nocturnal muse, w h i c h inhabits the subterranean w o r l d o f darkness, sleep, and the u n c o n scious. Unaccountably, scholars and critics have failed to take this passage into account and have neglected the place o f dreams in La Recherche in favor of other considerations. This omission in the face of Proust's clear exposition o f the sources o f his novel makes o n e inclined to apply the following words o f Milton H i n d u s to these critics: The secret of art is an open secret. [ . . . ] Essential revelations in the most prominently publicized placcs have been missed by the critics with a consistency which suggests an analogy between the technique of artistic concealment and that practised by the sly fox in Poe's Purloined Letter. The critics, it seems, outsmart themselves, ransacking the subtlest crevices of a work in search of hiding places, when all the while the sought-for revela1 A distinction is made between Marcel, the protagonist before he found his vocation, and the Narrator, the voice that records Marcel's experiences. These two aspects of the "I," in turn, are not to be confused with Proust, the novelist, who is their creator.

2

INTRODUCTION

tion declares itself plainly in the largest features. It literally "leaps to the eyes," and is therefore rejected as too obvious and innocent of meaning. 2 T h e neglect o f dreams as an important factor in Proust's w o r k has n o t been total, but there exists n o full-scale treatment of dreams.

It

is w i t h the intention of filling this lacuna that the following pages w e r e written. Almost n o writer w h o has dealt with Marcel Proust has failed to m e n t i o n dreams and to accord t h e m a m o r e or less important role in his w o r k s .

O f t e n , however, these considerations were based on

a tendency to see in his novel a thinly disguised version of the author's life. Proust's m o d e o f life was notorious and his cork-lined r o o m was famous. T h o s e w h o were not admitted to this sanctuary had ample testimony o f its inhabitant's ecccntric and nocturnal existence in his voluminous correspondence and the reminiscences of acquaintances. Just as there had been a tendency for Proust's contemporaries to see in Les Plaisirs et les jours nothing m o r e than the modish and affected y o u n g m a n o f the salons, so the first readers of A ¡a recherche du temps perdu projected upon the novel their o w n image of the recluse w h o spent his nights awake remembering his past.

Proust deplored the

interpretation of his masterpiece as merely souvenirs d'enfance.3

Many

writers o f impressionistic criticism of Proust's masterwork have here and there treated in a rather vague way an "atmosphere of dreams" w h i c h they tried to evoke for their readers, but w i t h they neither defined n o r explained.

Such criticism, while often based o n a sound

intuition, contributes little to understanding the w o r k w i t h w h i c h it deals. D e p e n d i n g on the skill of the practitioner, its effect ranges f r o m the completely hermetic to the communication of a certain je

2

Milton Hindus, The Proustian Vision (New York, Columbia University Press, 1954). P- 16. 3 Marcel Proust, Chroniques (Paris, Gallimard, 1927), pp. 209-10 (WSB): "In Du côté Je chez Swann, certain people, even very well-read ones, not recognizing the rigorous though veiled composition, . . . have believed that my novel was a sort of collection of memories, linked by the fortuitous laws of association of ideas."

INTRODUCTION

3

ne sais quoi. M . Briand, 4 for example, talks of Proust's direct apprehension of night—his natural milieu; and the Princesse Bibesco, like François Mauriac, evokes the strange appearance of the eyes of the author which indicated that he had the ability to see in the dark ("ses yeux voyaient la nuit"). 5 Other writers, abandoning excessive reliance on Proust's personality and life, have found that a general atmosphere of dreams is one o f the most obvious features of his work. Taking his text from the first pages of La Recherche, Henri Massis concludes: "His meditation is that of a relaxed body, lying down, which knows only the restless tossings on its bed.

And the Proustian world can be compared to

this world of sleep and of waking dream."' 6 Marie-Anne Cochet, one of the most unsympathetic Proustian critics, reproaches the author for the dream atmosphere she finds in his novel: "Dreamers require night. Proust enshrouded his life in darkness. He feared nothing so much as the light of day, as real light, true light, the light o( every man." 7 And she writes concerning a passage analyzing Marcel's consciousness: "This analysis is treated as a dream analysis, because the Proustian atmosphere is an oneiric atmosphere." 8 One of the serious failings in these writers is that they do not define the term "dream" as they intend it to be understood.

The reader

is unable to determine whether their remarks concern dreams, day dreams, or any number of other affective but imprecise states often referred to as meditation or reverie. Their use of the term coincides with Romantic practice. The Romantic writers did not distinguish between sleeping dreams and other vague psychic states, containing 4

Charles Briand, Le Secret de Marcel Proust (Paris, Editions Henri Lefebvre, l9$o),

p. 46: "there is in Proust something even more specifically Proustian—his 'intuition,' his direct apprehension of night, not as absence of light, but as night, as night itself." 5

See François Mauriac, Du côté de chez Proust

(Paris, La Table Ronde, 1947),

p. 19; Marthe Lucie Bibesco, Au bal avec Marcel Proust, (Paris, Gallimard, 6

Henri Massis, D'André

7

Marie-Anne Cochet, L'Ame

(WSB).

Cahiers

Marcel Proust,

IV

1928), p. 9. Gide à Marcel Proust (Lyon?, Lardanchet, 1948), p. 3 6 1 . proustiemie

(Bruxelles, L. Collignon, 8

1929), p. 64 Ibid.,

p. 22.

INTRODUCTION

4

both sleeping and waking sensations not adequately attributable to physical stimuli. 9

These include reverie, day dream, vision.

In the chapters that follow are adopted the usual definition of the word dream signifying the mental activity that occurs during sleep. It is not always easy where the works o f Proust are concerned to distinguish between the sleeping and waking activities of the character in question.

The following definitions, given by one of

attending physicians, are helpful.

Dr. Debre

10

Proust's

defines the dream

as a rapid succession o f images completely lacking in coordination; their absurdity and improbability do not astonish the sleeping man because he is detached f r o m reality.

In reverie, while the images arc still unreal, a

semblance o f organization and coordination can be seen.

In the meditation,

the subject lets his mind wander a m o n g vague images and ideas, but he maintains contact with reality and can direct the course o f his thought.

There is, certainly, a generic relationship between all undirected mental phenomena, the decisive point being the degree of voluntary, conscious control.

Generally, however, the distinction is facilitated

by the fact that "true" dreams take place only during sleep, even though they may persist briefly throughout the intermediate states of waking.

It is nevertheless true that there are times when waking

thoughts and even actions share the unconscious nature of dreams. In these cases, if there is a total absence o f intervention on the part o f the conscious will, dream and waking are presumed to be related. A w o r d o f caution is necessary with regard to reverie. This term is not defined by Proust, although unmistakable instances occur.

It

must be eliminated f r o m our consideration because o f its semivolitional nature and because it does not carry the conviction of reality that characterizes dreams. In La Recherche, it is represented as a vain practice, running counter to the spiritual growth of the Narrator, while the dream constitutes a valuable spiritual exercise. 9

John Jacob Weiscrt, The Dream in Gerhart Haitptmami (New York, King's Crown Press, 1949), p. vii. 10 Robert Debre, "Le Role de la maladie dans une ocuvre," Formes et Couleurs, No. 3 (1943), no pagination.

INTRODUCTION

5

The novel itself, in its opening passage, consists of a cluster of dreams. This first view could not fail to impress the reader. But as he penetrates further into the work, the impression is somewhat attenuated by the profusion of other themes. The question then arises of the relative importance of dreams. André Gide, after speaking of the Comédie humaine side of Proust, apostrophizes the author as follows: A n d y o u manage, as y o u g o along, to speak o f everything, mingling with the apparent diffusion o f m e m o r y such judicious and original

thoughts,

that I come to wish for, as an appendix to your w o r k , a sort o f lexicon w h i c h w o u l d allow us to find easily certain remarks about sleep and insomnia, about illness, music, dramatic art and the art o f acting. 1 1

The type of index Gide desired would also permit an investigation of the importance of dreams in the work from a quantitative point of view. Several such reference works have been compiled, though they are by no means complete.

As Gide says, "one would have to list

almost all the words in the French language." Even for such a word as rêve and its synonyms, the various possible meanings complicate the compiler's task. The infinitely minute gradations of mental states described by Proust make it almost impossible to know whether a given remark applies exclusively to sleep or to dreams as well.

The

accepted psychological view of Proust's time, to which it seems likely that he subscribed, was that sleep is accompanied by a perpetual dream. 12 11

André Gide, " A propos de Marcel Proust: Billet à Angèle," in Marcel Proust, Lettres à André Gide (Ncuchâtel, Ides et Calendes, 1949), p. 109. 12 Caution must be exercised in attributing to Proust knowledge o f scientific writings on psychology. However, it would seem likely that he would k n o w , at least in a general w a y , the works and conclusions of the following psychological writers whose names are found in his writings: Hcrvcy de Saint-Denys, Les Rêves et les moyens de les diriger (Paris, A m y o t , 1867); N . Vaschide and H. Piéron, La Psychologie du rêve au point de vue médical (Paris?, Vaillère, 1901). Hervey de Saint-Denys is mentioned in La Recherche, II, 7 1 8 , while the name of Vaschide appears in Marcel Proust, Correspondance générale de Marcel Proust (6 Vols., Paris, Pion, 1930-1936), vol. II, Lettres à la comtesse de Noailles 1 9 0 1 - 1 9 1 9 , pp. 1 0 9 - 1 0 .

6

INTRODUCTION

In his repertory o f the themes in Proust, Celly 1 3 lists under the heading " R ê v e " thirteen references having a general application, the same number referring to the Narrator, and five entries concerning persons other than Marcel.

Under " R ê v e (deuxième sens)" are listed a

number o f vague auxilliary meanings, primarily that o f reverie (nineteen references).

Under the rubric "Sommeil" are listed thirty re-

ferences, either o f a general nature or concerning Marcel specifically; seven are used in some other context. a total o f seventeen entries including

"Réveil" is less fruitful with all meanings.

The

grand

total o f eighty-five under all three headings is somewhat misleading: first, there is duplication, as in the cases of M m e Cottard and Albertine, respectively; second, a continuous passage may yield a number of references listed separately.

Some o f the references are taken from

passages where Proust uses these words in a highly figurative sense and is clearly not writing about dreams. A consultation o f the other index, the Spalding Handbook

designed for English-speaking readers

o f Proust, reveals twenty-one references to dreams (including two for daydream) and nineteen entries under the heading o f sleep. 14 In addition to being incomplete and ambiguous, these compilations cannot give any indication o f the importance o f the theme o f dreams. Even the quantitative view is subject to interpretation, and depending his point o f view, the writer may conclude that passages referring to dreams in A la recherche du temps perdu are either numerous or rare. Those listed by Aulagne are admittedly incomplete, but he concludes from his reading: "Even though only a small number o f pages are devoted to them, dreams and sleep are one o f the basic themes in A la recherche du temps perdu."15

O n the contrary, Bonnet asserts that

1 3 Raoul Celly, Répertoire des themes de Marcel Proust (Paris, Gallimard, 1935), pp. 283-84; 285; 308-9. 1 4 P. A . Spalding, The Reader's Handbook to Proust (London, Chatto, 1952), pp. 15859; 262-64. 1 5 Louis-Jean Aulagne, "Essai sur le nocturne proustien," Psyché, N o . 35-36 (septembre-octobre 1949), 876 (WSB).

INTRODUCTION

7

Proust wrote a great deal concerning dreams. 16 However, both writers agree that the dream ranks as one of Proust's major themes. From the very beginning, perceptive critics have accorded major attention to the dream. O f the early articles devoted to Swanti, one that pleased Proust most was written by the painter Jacques-Emile Blanche. He characterized the book as follows: "Du

côté de chez

Swann is a book about insomnia, about thoughts that keep watch in silence and in darkness."

And he concludes: "This book could

only have been written in the lucidity of nocturnal insomnia.

It is

almost too luminous for the eye which only half sees in full daylight." 1 7 Stillother of Proust's first critics were alert to the importance of dreams. Léon Pierre-Quint's b o o k , 1 8 the first major study of Proust, is notable in that almost all the essential considerations are mentioned and that its judgments have aged but little. Dreams and sleep, its author states, are the two sources from which the novel gradually emerges. next year, in 1926, appeared the book by Georges Gabory.

19

The

While

this critical essay is inferior to Pierre-Quint's, Gabory stressed the importance of dreams and related them to the theories of Freud which were being popularized at that epoch in France. One might anticipate that A la recherche du temps perdu would prove irresistible as a subject of study for students of the mental sciences. Actually, a number of psychiatric analyses exist. The question whether or not Proust had direct knowledge of Freud's theories has been discussed,20 and on the basis of present documents, seems insoluble. M mc Czoniczer, 21 after examining the psychological literature of the 16

Henri Bonnet, L'Eudémonisme esthétique de Proust (Paris, J. Vrin, 1949), p. 9. Henri Bonnet, Marcel Proust de 1907 à 1914 (Paris, Nizet, 1959), pp. 153, 155 (WSB). 18 Léon Pierre-Quint, Marcel Proust, sa vie, son oeuvre (Paris, Editions du Sagittaire, 1946), pp. 147 ff. 19 Georges Gabory, Essai sur Marcel Proust (Paris, "Le Livre," 1926). 20 Gregory Zilboorg, "The Discovery of the CEdipus Complex," Psychoanalytical Quarterly, X I I I (1939), 279-302. It might be noted that Zilboorg credits Proust with the discovery. 21 Elisabeth Czoniczer, Quelques Antécédents de "A la recherche du temps perdu" (Genève, Librairie E. Droz, 1957). 17

8

INTRODUCTION

period, concludes that many of the Proustian observations or attitudes were current knowledge, available to all intellectuals.

As a conse-

quence, she cautiously provides her dissertation with the subtitle, Tendencies That May Have Contributed to the Crystallization of Proust's Novel. Among current psychiatric studies, the work of Milton L. Miller 22 manages to avoid some but not all of the pitfalls inherent in this approach. He sees in La Recherche a case history of the integration of a personality—a sort of self-analysis. This theory is perhaps not at variance with the facts exposed in the novel. Proust himself expresses a similar idea in the following sentence: "Thus my life was in contact with the forces that would bring about its maturation." 23

Of

Miller's comments, only those concerning the characteristics of dreams have been helpful in writing the present study. his professional functions, he is somewhat

In the exercise of

disappointing.

Miller

was unable to do for Proust what Freud did for the German-Danish writer Wilhelm Jensen. 24 In this study of La Recherche I have completely set aside psychiatric interpretations and techniques. My purpose is to consider the novel as a work of literature. The main interest of the work is not the astute psychological observations it contains but rather the uses to which these are put in the creation of a literary masterpiece.

Literature is

not life; it finds in life the raw materials out of which something else is created. For this reason, we will read Proust's creation for the purpose of determining what the author communicates on the literary plane. Henri Bonnet's two-volume study of La Recherche, appearing under the general title Le Progrès spirituel dans l'œuvre de Marcel Proust, may 22

Milton L. Miller, Nostalgia: A Psychoanalytical Study of Proust (Boston, H o u g h 1956). 23 La Recherche, II, 1 0 1 6 (III, 899). 24 Sigmund Freud, Delusion and Dream and Other Essays (Boston, T h e Beacon Press, 1956), pp. 2 5 - 1 1 8 . ton,

INTRODUCTION

9

also be considered a psychological work.

The important difference

between it and the others is that the psychology it contains is that o f Proust and not that o f the critic. Bonnet regards his work as a compilation o f themes, as a psychological system extracted from the work of Proust. 2 5 As useful as is this type o f compilation to the researcher, it has the disadvantage of removing the psychological content from the context of the novel.

It is not neccssary to denigrate either the method or

the results of M . Bonnet's thesis to feel that the element missing f r o m his t w o volumes is the novel itself. One suspects, too, that if the exposition of psychological materials in A la recherche du temps perdu is not in accord with the logical and systematic exposition o f its themes as they are regrouped by Bonnet, there is at least an order o f some other type based upon the internal necessities o f the w o r k itself. This organization, whatever its nature, is essential to understanding the novel as literature.

W e should not forget that the Narrator,

on

the point of embarking on his literary career, vows that he will organize his themes just as Françoise sews a dress, by pinning together parts o f the manuscript according to a foreordained pattern (La Recherche, II, 1 1 1 3 [III, 1033-34]).

The

synthesis Proust produced in his

work calls for careful and detailed examination in order to reveal the methods by which he proceeded. Studies con fined to the dream in Proust's work are rare indeed. Thomas H. Cordle did devote a brief but valuable article to the subject, " T h e Role of Dreams in A la recherche du temps perdu."26

While

the scope of his treatment is limited, Cordle performs the neccssary and long overdue service of reconsidering the part involontary m e m ory is accorded in the novel and suggests that dreams are the primary organizing device in its structure. For the sake of completeness, w e

25

Henri Bonnet, Le Monde, l'amour et l'amitié (Paris, J . Vrin, 1946), p. 11. Thomas H. Cordle, "The Role of Dreams in A la recherche du temps perdu," Romanic Review, X L I I (December 1951), 261-73. 26

10

INTRODUCTION

may mention the article by Charles Briand which exhibits the same defects and biases contained in his book on Proust. 2 7 A brief but important study of the dream to which we are particularly indebted is the paper b / Louis-Jean Aulagne, "Essai sur le nocturne proustien," subtitled "L'insomnie, le sommeil et les rêves dans A la recherche du temps perdu."28 This essay is exemplary of its type, for though the psychiatric orientation is strong, its purpose is not so much the performance of a clinical exercise as it is the elucidation of the novel itself: T o explain, or at least try to understand better, the composition of Proust's work, one has only to borrow the method used in musical criticism, singling out any one of the principal Proustian themes (night, death, love, jealousy, travel, involuntary memory, social life, etc. . . . ) and show the "mysterious differences" and the not less mysterious permanence that binds these themes together, in order to find the mother cell, so to speak, from which each of the themes was developed—a cell which, as Proust warns us, is not itself a part of any one of these themes, and from which not one o f them could be deduced; the generative act itself constitutes the measure o f the creative powers of the artist, powers which remain, in the final analysis, inexplicable. 29

This almost unique modesty has enabled M . Aulagne to avoid the errors (at least f r o m the literary point of view) of those writers w h o approach the novel with the intention of finding in it their particular marotte.30 O f all the Proustian critics, perhaps Edmund Wilson reveals himself to be the most discerning concerning dreams. In the influential essay he devotes to Proust, he proposes that the dream furnished the inspiration for La Recherche; that its harmony, development, and logic are 2 7 Charles Briand, "Maladie et sommeil chez Proust," Les Temps Modernes, No. 51 (janvier 1950), 1169-87. This article would seem to be a version of Chapter V of Briand, Le Secret de Marcel Proust. 28 Aulagne, Psyché, N o . 35-36 (septembre-octobre 1949), 876-902. 29 Ibid., pp. 877-78. 3 0 For instance: Jean Fretet, L'Aliénation poétique (Paris, J.-B. Janin, 1946); and Briand, Le Secret de Marcel Proust.

il

INTRODUCTION

those of dreams; that the dream supplies the framework on which the story is constructed. 31

It is regrettable that M r . Wilson did not

pursue these ideas further, supporting them with detailed references and explanations. A m o n g more recent studies o f A la recherche du temps perdu, w e have drawn upon Germaine Brée's perceptive book. 3 2

M l l e Brée

elucidates and comments on all o f the important phases o f the novel, and dreams and sleep are not neglected.

However, the organization

of her book does not allow her observations on this subject to be concentrated in one place. As helpful as are the insights derived from scholarly works on Proust, the present undertaking is based primarily on Proust's o w n writing.

Wherever possible we have called upon the opinions o f

scholars and critics either to confirm or contrast with our own. B u t the writings of Proust are the point o f departure for every division o f this study. M . Aulagne writes in his essay on Proust and dreams: "Starting out with the theme of sleep and dreams, one is led to all the others, and one wonders if this is not the theme most likely to elucidate them all." 3 3 In our attempt to carry out this experiment, w e will examine first the dream as a manifestation o f the inner life o f the individual; then w c will explore the objective parts of Proust's work for possible influences and interactions. A ¡a recherche du temps perdu will be the primary subject of our investigation, but it is not possible to neglect the earlier works for what insight they might give into Proustian thought. With the appearance o f Jean Santeuil and Contre Sainte-Beuve,

the

course of Proust's literary evolution has become clearer. The hiatus 31

Edmund Wilson, Axel's

Castle:

A Study

in the Imaginative

Literature

of

1S70-

i ç j o ( N e w Y o r k , Scrifcner, 1953), pp. 1 7 6 ff. 32

Germaine Brée, Du

Marcel Proust 33

temps perdu

au temps retrouvé:

introduction

(Paris, Société d'Édition "Les Belles Lettres," 1950).

Aulagne, Psyché,

N o . 3 5 - 3 6 (septembre-octobre 1949), 876.

à l'oeuvre

de

12

INTRODUCTION

between Les Plaisirs et les jours and La Recherche has been partially filled. In addition, recently edited correspondence has added greatly to our knowledge of Proust's activities and career. Thus, it seems both profitable and compulsory to search the early Proustian writings and correspondence for indications of the place of dreams in his life, works, and thought. André Gide said of his rereading of Les Plaisirs: "But today we are forewarned, and everything that, in later years we have found admirable in the recent books of Marcel Proust, we recognize here where earlier we could not see it." 3 4 Thus the first chapter is concerned with the theme of dreams as it appears in his writings leading up to La Recherche, while the chapters that follow all deal mainly with A la recherche du temps perdu. For the purpose of this study, we renounce psychological analysis and evaluation of the dream and dream-related processes; nor will an effort be made to trace the origins of Proust's ideas, to ascertain their correctness, to determine their originality, or to situate the author within a given literary or idealogical current. The presence of the dream in Proust's work challenges the researcher to define its function within the synthesis presented by A la recherche du temps perdu. The field of investigation has therefore been restricted to the role allotted to dream phenomena in the works of Proust, the evolution of this role, and the manner in which it is carried out. Our purpose is to reveal the exact meaning of the Narrator's statement: " I would not scorn this second muse, this nocturnal muse, who would occasionally assume the functions of the other" (La Recherche, II, 1026 [111,914]). 34

Gide,

André Gide, " E n relisant 'Les Plaisirs ct les J o u r s , " ' in Proust, Letlres a André p. 1 1 6 ( W S B ) .

I. Proust's Early Works Here began for me what I shall call the overflow of the dream into real life. The Dream is a second life. Gerard de Nerval, Aurélia

Although the primary purpose of this study is to examine the role of dreams and related phenomena in A la recherche du temps perdu, considerable illumination of these themes can be obtained f r o m an examination of Marcel Proust's other writings, his correspondence, and early literary production.

His letters, especially the intimate

correspondence with his mother, might be expected to reveal what interest he had in the subject, and the importance he attached to it. Then too, we n o w know, owing to the posthumous publication of two major works, that Proust did not suddenly change f r o m the frivolous imitative writer of Les Plaisirs et les jours into the full-fledged genius, author of La Recherche.

The appearance of Jean

Santeuil

and Contre Sainte-Beuve shows us that there was a long period of apprenticeship during which Proust made what he considered to be unsuccessful attempts to deal with the materials that were to make up La Recherche. It would therefore appear logical to seek dream phenomena in these earlier works—to hunt for the seed that was to produce its final flowering in the work of Proust's artistic maturity. It may seem arbitrary to consider the correspondence along with these early works, since Proust was an inveterate letter writer during his whole lifetime; and this correspondence is more voluminous than his entire work, and has been only partially edited. But for the extended unproductive periods of his life, the letters contain the' only

PROUST'S

14

EARLY

WORKS

index we have to his intellectual preoccupations. It is for these reasons that the correspondence is valuable to the researcher.

In the early

years Proust sometimes reported to his mother and to others the progress of his writing. Once La Recherche began to appear, he was anxious to have it understood and reviewed; and this led him to write to critics explaining his intentions, furnishing elucidations, and situating the particular volume in question in the context of the entire work. These pronouncements, however brief, are among the most important sources of information concerning Proust's artistic intentions that we have, other than an examination of the work itself. We propose to examine Proust's correspondence for references to his own dreams and then proceed to a study of his early writings themselves. Juvenilia

and Correspondence

The onset of Proust's asthma at the age of nine 1 might not necessarily be regarded as a crucial influence on his literary production were it not for the fact that this illness had grave effects on all his activities and especially 011 his sleep. This is amply shown in Proust's correspondence, and is confirmed by one of his physicians, Dr. Robert Debré: "From childhood on his sleep was poor. Very different from his robust brother and all his schoolmates, Marcel Proust had difficulty in achieving the sleep that in the young is generally so deep and regular." 2 The eventual effects of the illness which led to his claustration in his cork-lined room are too well known to need description here. However, from a very early age, as will be seen in his letters to his mother, he was encouraged to note and report his hours of sleep.3

Having learned, in that apt French expression, how to

s'écouter, he continued these reports to his mother until her death in 1905. 1

Léon Pierre-Quint, Marcel Proust, sa vie, son œuvre (Paris, Editions du Sagittaire, 1946), p. 27. 2 Robert Debré, "Le Rôle de la maladie dans une œuvre," Formes et Couleurs, No. 3 (1943), no pagination (WSB). 3 Marcel Proust, Correspondance avec sa mère, 1887-1905, ed. by Philip Kolb,

PROUST'S

EARLY

WORKS

The very first letter of the extant Correspondance avec sa mère contains the following characteristic passage: "I felt quite certain m y digestion would be perfect at night. Yet I've had transparent nights, with the sensation that I was asleep but just about to wake up, and I kept dreaming." 4

This letter was written when the author was

sixteen years of age, during a stay with his grandparents in Auteuil. W h e n Proust was at h o m e he habitually left messages for his mother concerning his sleep and his desires about being awakened. O f this type of communication, many of which doubtless were not preserved, the following is a typical example: "Don't come in to say goodbye tomorrow if I'm not asleep [réveillé in French], for I'm not feeling too bright, and the time I spend in sleeping, always supposing I don't dream, will at least be so much abstracted from my black miseries." 5 W h e n the information Proust furnished his overly solicitous mother was not sufficiently detailed, she complained: "Your 'slept so many hours' still means nothing to me, or rather nothing worth anything. I ask and repeat: W e n t to bed at Got up at—" 6 The precarious state of Proust's health may seem at times to justify to some extent his reporting of his personal habits. But at other times he simply reported his dreams for the interest they might have: "I dreamed last night that I was at a sort of charity matinee at Mm