Autour d'un Verre: Proust & la Phénoménologie Littéraire

This chapter explores the metaphor of glass in Marcel Proust's work, analysing how it embodies a quest for literary expression to convey perceived and lived experience with transparency, despite the inherent opacity of language. Starting from the image of Proust as a sick man who is nevertheless conscious of the outside world, the study highlights the glass objects – window panes, monocles, aquariums, magic lanterns – that punctuate his writing and allow for a meta-literary reflection on the restitution of the world. I propose that this metaphor, crafted by Proust like a glassmaker, creates a 'phenomenal schema' that goes beyond simple aesthetic fascination. This schema responds, in part, to the limitations encountered by phenomenological language in capturing and describing experiences faithfully, without the distortions inherent in the philosophical approach. By placing glass at the heart of Proust's stylistic approach, this paper questions the extent to which Proust, without using phenomenological vocabulary, was able to achieve a language of transparency, capable of 'crystallising' the link between words, the real world and the imaginary.