The Power of Memory in Swann's Way

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The Power of Memory in Swann’s Way Marcel Proust was not a philosopher in any way but he was one of the greatest novelists in the twentieth century. For that reason, he did not write about philosophical investigations on time or any other issue but he was very thoughtful about time: how we experienced it and to use time and memory as themes of his novels. In Swann’s Way, Proust reconstructs his childhood in a lot of detail. He recreates rhythm and events of his childhood so vividly that one can recall on their own childhood by reading this novel. I think Proust was able to accomplish this as he put himself in the shoes of himself as a boy, enough to remember how much he longed for his mother’s good night kiss in ‘Overture’. (1) In À la recherché du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time), Marcel Proust has explored a lot of themes such as time and memory particularly in the first volume: Swann’s Way. Time is the way our senses make us feel, the flow of what has already happened. The past, present and future are our experiences of time. We live in the present but we are aware of what has already happened in the past and we have an idea of what might happen in the future. Memory is the ability for our brain to store, hold onto and remember information. Without memory it would be impossible to keep track of time. (2)(3)(4) There are two types of memory: voluntary and involuntary. Involuntary memory is the beginning of human memory in which signs encountered in everyday life suggest memories of the past without conscious effort. Voluntary memory is a deliberate effort to recall the past (these terms were created by Marcel Proust and are now a part of modern psychology). These memories are associated with intellect. For example, in Swann’s Way, the narrator says “the pictures which that kind of memory shows us preserve nothing of the past itself”, “It is a

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