Proust Between Deleuze and Derrida: The Remains of Literature

James Dutton's book explores the deep affinity between Proust's textual experimentation and the revolutionary philosophical interventions of Derrida and Deleuze. It reads Proust's relevance to continental philosophy and influence on its literariness, emphasizing important but overlooked concepts and terms like restance, the sumplok?, differentiation, the no?teon, and the black hole/white wall system. Dutton argues that Proust's lone published text, "La Recherche du Temps Perdu," stages a uniquely productive encounter between philosophy and literature, anticipating some of the most important concepts and strategies of poststructuralist French thought. He shows that "La Recherche" stages a process of uninterrupted textual becoming, in which the distinction between life and literature is broken down, suggesting a new confluence between all three thinkers.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 30 November 2023
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Introduction:

In his influential work, la recherche du temps perdu (1913-27), Marcel Proust engages in a profound exploration of the complex relationship between textual experimentation and revolutionary philosophical interventions. This essay aims to examine the deep affinity between Proust's textual experimentation and the revolutionary philosophical interventions of Jacques Derrida and Gilles Deleuze. By reading Proust's relevance to continental philosophy and its influence on its literariness, we will emphasize important, but significantly ignored, Derridean and Deleuzean (and Deleuzo-Guattarian) concepts and key terms, such as restance, the sumplok?, differentiation, the no?teon, and the black hole/white wall system. Through a close reading of la recherche du temps perdu, we will follow its affective arc, using desire, love, jealousy, and grief to draw out new perspectives from the work of Derrida and Deleuze.

Proust's Textual Experimentation:

Proust's lone published text, la recherche du temps perdu, is widely recognized as a masterpiece of modern literature. It is a monumental work that spans several decades and chronicles the life and thoughts of Marcel Proust, a French novelist and philosopher. Proust's writing is characterized by its innovative use of language, its attention to detail, and its exploration of the subjective experiences of consciousness.

One of the key aspects of Proust's textual experimentation is his deferral of textual presence. Proust's writing is characterized by a deliberate attempt to create a sense of timelessness and absence, as if the characters and events of his novel are suspended in a state of perpetual becoming. This deferral of textual presence is achieved through a range of techniques, including the use of long sentences, intricate descriptions, and a complex narrative structure.

Proust's deferral of textual presence is closely linked to his philosophical interests. Proust was a philosopher who believed that the essence of life was not found in the material world, but in the subjective experiences of consciousness. He believed that the human mind.

Weight: 384g
Dimension: 155 x 235 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781474490511