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Une Chambre Mentale: Proust's Solitude

Kear, Jon (2007) Une Chambre Mentale: Proust's Solitude. In: Hendrix, Harald, ed. Writers' Houses and the Making of Memory. Routledge, New York/Oxon, pp. 221-235. ISBN 978-0-415-95742-7. (KAR id:31663)

Abstract

This article explores questions of the phenomenology of space in relation to Proust and suggests connections between the conditions of production of A la recherche du temps perdu and the quality of sensation that Proust sought to evoke in his novel. The essay examines the biography of Proust and how his famous solitariness has been seen as integral to the understanding of Proust's modernity and myth. Drawing on the work of recent historians of Paris, the article goes on to explore preoccupation with interiority in late nineteenth century France, arguing that far from simply being a flight from society reflected historical changes in the conception of the urban scene and in particular a new accent on privacy and the private interior that emerged out of the rebuilding of Paris in the period of the Second Empire and early Third Republic.

Item Type: Book section
Subjects: N Visual Arts > NX Arts in general
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Arts
Depositing User: J. Kear
Date Deposited: 12 Oct 2012 20:49 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:09 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/31663 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Kear, Jon.

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