The narrative techniques of A la recherche du temps perdu : revisited and augmented edition of Proust's narrative techniques

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The Narrative Techniques of À la recherche du temps perdu proposes fresh solutions to questions raised by B. G. Rogers in his classic essay Proust's Narrative Techniques (1965). It takes account of the debates on narratology inspired by G. Genette, and uses material supplied by recent editions and by intertextual and genetic criticism. Proust's concept of narration is founded on his conviction, confirmed by biographers, that no artist's spiritual quest is successfully achieved unless it is first undertaken in Time and Space. La Recherche is the story of a fictional artist's discovery of this truth. Proust conceived his novel as a spiritual drama comprising a central character, a plot and a dénonement, and enclosed it in a poetic framework. The Narrator is both a character of fiction and a poet, the inspiration for whose work is awakened by memories of his personal journey and confirmed by the discovery of processes which give it universal meaning. The major techniques used to organise this story - overtures, chambres, journées, promenades, salons, conservations, leitmotifs and recapitulations - show the artist's journey through an interplay of perspectives achieved by the use of double internal focalisation. Part One traces their evolution from Proust's earliest compositions to drafts of the novel which emerged from Contre Sainte-Beuve. Part Two examines their functions in La Recherche in studies of the structure of the novel, the rôles of Swarm and the Narrator, focalisation and prespective and the connexions which link all the devices comprising Proustian narrative.