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1. On the surface, “Swann’s Way” is more surreal than humorous, detailing the subconscious state of mind of its protagonist. Yet in so doing, Proust reveals a deep source of humor: locating the absurd in daily life and in the human experience. Proust’s humor is that of one relishing the paradoxes and peculiarities of life itself. The narrator’s reveries reveal his singular perception of life, and the reader can relate on several levels, most notably the way that one struggles between the perceived subconscious reality and the objective reality presumably shared by all of humanity. “It often happened that, in my spell of uncertainty as to where I was, I did not distinguish the successive theories of which that uncertainty was composed,” (“Overture,” digital edition). It is abundantly clear that the points of rational reference in the world are relatively small and minute compared to the much larger world of one’s internal perceptions. Through the interface between the two, the inner world and the outer, one locates points of humorous convergence. When personal perceptions, beliefs, and self-concepts do not coincide with those in the outer world, the discomfort that precedes humor arises. Proust therefore...
Most definitely, it is essential to make fun of the self and of life itself if one is to remain sane.
Proust also plays with reality and fantasy in comical ways, similar to the ways Shakespeare does in comedies like A Midsummer Night’s Dream. For example, the narrator becomes obsessed with Gilberte without knowing exactly why. In one of the most comical passages of “Swann’s Way,” the narrator experiences and expresses a juxtaposition of contradictory feelings. He states, “I loved her; I was sorry not to have had the time and the inspiration to insult her, to do her some injury, to force her to keep some memory of me,” (digital edition). Love is described here in decidedly unromantic terms, combining aggression and passion in ways that are purely comical and which satirize the concept of chivalry.
2. The madeleine is symbolic and evocative. Decisively feminine in both name and shape, the cookie is far more impressive upon the reader than mere toast. Therefore, Proust does deliberately choose this form of baked good as a means of alerting his reader…
Works Cited
Proust, Marcel. “Swann’s Way.” eBook edition. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7178/7178-h/7178-h.htm
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