A History of French Literature Book

Thought provoking. Twenty years old but still refreshing. Less a celebration that a rational investigation. "Apologia for Metaphor" and "Embodied Time" were the strongest lectures here for me.

In her third lecture: Wonderful sustained reading of P in relation to his creation of images ("impressions") via metonymy and analogy, metaphors gifted with more than counter poise between two objects. Reminded me a little of De Man. Offers a great close reading of Swann using above framework: "Odette becomes analogous to the 'little phrase'". As Kristeva says for Proust "the analogical is the ontological. Proustian metaphor brings together appearances, but it also reveals the profundity of being." As she says, through this movement and side by side display, "life acquires depths." His artistic project is mediated through the lens of the analogical/ontological distinction, elevating art above straight reflection and ratiocination (pg67). The same process linking the novel internally through its constructed time, and mentally in the readers mind, till triumph of that same project at novel's close. Kristeva suggests Prousts legacy beyond his descendants and contemporaries, his continued readership and relevance is precisely because of the investigative, artistic method. (73)

Lecture on the madeleine more concerned with showing Kristeva's intellectual dexterity, at expense of lecture's credibility (incest theme, mother based eroticism). Excusable due to her intellectual debts and background (Freud).

Sums up Bergotte as anti-Proust = ("like")
Counters Deleuze's neo-Platonistic reading.
Sees Narrators disappointment with Fauborg as "an empty centre" around which the novel revolves.
Draws our attention to the 'insanity of a dog' idea which reminded me of Francoise's pithy saying about a certain something smelling of roses, which Davis renders well, but could be even stronger.
Nice bit about all other arts being 'enslaved to mimesis'. Foregrounding again the majesty of Proust's fictional edifice. Reminds us at close of his cathedral metaphor, one I am unwilling to fully subscribe to.
Small book but idea to page ratio is high. Recommended.

"Review" (jottings) written in iPhone. Corrections to (probably) follow.