Sensation and Memories in Marcel Proust's Swann's Way and Time Regained - Essay Example

July Assignment Marcel Proust is perhaps one of the greatest of the century, descending from the aristocratic ways of life in Paris. He was inspired by the emotions that he witnessed around him in the city of love, and was thus able to pin down his thoughts for the generations to come. Swann’s Way written by him is an excellent example of one of his greatest every written and acknowledged works of literature and provides an apt description of the journey that Proust takes in order to achieve the level of penmanship that he did during the course of his life. However, it forms the part of six series, one of the other works of his titled ‘In Search of Lost Time’ being adapted into a drama film by the name of ‘Time Regained’. This paper thus helps to provide an insight into one of the excerpts taken from the end of Proust’s novel, Combray, and how the analysis tends to describe these other two parts of Swann’s Way. Swann’s Way is a very well written account of the life of Marcel Proust; the first part talks about his early life and his younger self, as well as the experiences that he encounters in the small French town of Combray. The second part of the book talks about his obsession and infatuation towards Odette, and how he tries to woo the woman with all his might and passion, and thus tries to make a place for her in his life through his work by understanding her as his muse, by only ultimately coming to the conclusion, that she was not indeed, his ‘type’. One of the author’s most famous quotes from this very account and interesting tale has been analysed and explained within this paper in order to understand the kind of emotions and feelings that he was going through, and how the same relates to all his narratives as a whole. “For often I have wished to see a person again without realising that it was simply because that person recalled to me a hedge of hawthorns in blossom; and I have been led to believe, and to make someone else believe in an aftermath of affection, by what was no more than an inclination to travel. But by the same qualities, and by their persistence in those of my impressions, today, to which they can find an attachment, the two “ways” give to those impressions a foundation, depth, a dimension lacking from the rest. They invest them, too, with a charm, a significance which is for me alone. When, on a summer evening, the resounding sky growls like a tawny lion, and everyone is complaining of the storm, it is along the “Meseglise way” that my fancy strays alone in ecstasy, inhaling, through the noise of falling rain, the odour of invisible and persistent lilac-trees.” (Proust, Marcel) The beauty of this quote by the author lies in understanding the in depth meaning and analysing the words not by breaking them down, but by absorbing them within oneself. The author has tried to portray his emotions by talking about the mystery that love carries and the fantasy that has been created around this very single emotion with the help of nature and the surroundings that persist in the rest of the world around us. He has tried to depict how an individual might long for someone without realising the fact that he indeed does not long for the other person’s touch or feel; but for the atmosphere that he is put into while being on the search for that significant other who might end up meaning nothing at all. Therefore, meeting someone includes the surroundings as well as the atmosphere that might be created. Many a times, it might so happen that the setting that has been created with the help of the wind, trees and the whiff of yearn in the air, might be because of a personal emotion and not the aura that the other person might exude. Thus, the author has tried to explain how travelling far and wide distances in order to meet someone might also mean that someone wants to undergo the travel because of the beauty that nature exudes, and not completely in order to finish the rendezvous. Thus, a certain place or object in the environment might also remind people of each other and helps to keep the memory fresh. The writer has tried to depict how meeting someone and meeting the objects and same surrounding again can really help someone to identify with nostalgia; he has tried to explain to his readers that both these aspects make the meeting worth it and make each other stronger. Taking an example from his own book, Proust has tried to say how ‘Swann’s Way’ and ‘Guermantes’’ were both different ways but the experiences that he underwent in both the paths remind him of each of them. They both led him onto greater things and taught him things because of which he became who he was. Thus, he has tried to show how both paths were equally important in making him the man that he was and that he has been able to gather memories from both of them in a very concise manner, which have played their role in reminding him about himself, when he was on his deathbed. The writer finds himself to be attached to both these phases of his life in a manner that they were able to leave strong impressions and impacts on him. These impressions were full of emotions and feelings that he was able to undergo in the form of experiences which he otherwise would not have been able to understand, had he not tread on both these ways. He talks about his these ways have been invested in well, with ‘a charm, a significance’ which is for him alone. Thus, these ways or phases of his life have been able to leave a significant mark upon his life and he alone has been able to comprehend the meaning of the same with time. Proust has tried to thus show that every man must be able to spin weave out the knots in his own life without any help from others. This is because only he alone will be able to understand his actions of the past and be able to make his own decisions. Only if a man is able to do that, he will be able to undergo and relive his experiences and learn from them in his future. One cannot expect other people to understand their feelings and emotions for the sole reason that they have their own emotions to feel and experience. Losing out on understanding this true in depth meaning of life can harm a person when he is trying to look at his life on his deathbed. ‘Time Regained’ is the story of how Proust has tried to recollect his life in the form of mere memories in the corners of his mind. The movie helps to depict how the wisps of memory that he is able to muster and think through give him his final ounces of strength and help him die a happy man, knowing that he was able to comprehend every aspect of his life. Thus, he has tried to write and let others know that they must be able to understand themselves before they can try and enter other people’s lives and help them understand themselves. Finally, Proust talks about the “Mesegelise Way” and remembers the same in heavy storms, rain, thunder and lightning. All these aspects of the weather help the writer to describe the kind of despair and loss of hope that he was facing in his life during the time he tread on that path. However, he writes that the ‘Mesegelise Way” was a time of ecstasy for him even though treading on the path put him in a negative state of mind. This is because according to him an individual can either face the bad times that inevitably knock upon his doorstep, with grief and sorrow or with happiness. Thus, Proust writes that since negative emotions always find their way within people’s minds, it is better to counter them in a strong and positive manner than to let those emotions weigh a person down with despair. Therefore, even though most people end up cribbing and complaining when they tend to walk upon the ‘Mesegelise Way”, Proust writes that he tries to dwell upon the streets of this path by inhaling the persistent smell of the lilac trees all around him. Thus, he tries to look for the good in even the worst of situations in order to make himself feel better and remind himself of the fact that nothing can be stronger than his own will and determination to bring him down. He has tried to associate strong memories that he has chanced upon and made in life with immense importance. “Mesegelise Way” was the place where he found and lost love. Something as strong as love always tends to leave solid marks on one mind staying with them for all ties to come. ‘Swann’s Way’ can thus be depicted as the path that was treaded upon by Charlie Swann, in order to win the woman that he thought was present in his dreams. In reality however, the man was simply overcome by lust and jealousy, the worst of emotions that disguise themselves in the form of love, in order to win Odette and make sure no other man ever set his eyes or touch upon her. He indulged in spying, cheating and even bribery in order to extract every bit of information that he could, regarding the object of his attraction. On being separated from Odette for a long time, he is able to understand the kind of desire that longs in his heart for her, the and very fire burning inside him is not able to subside unless he is able to meet her again. This is when he undergoes a revelation by understanding how “loving is a very complicated experience, and love itself is, of all social experiences, something that cannot be contained by anything as simple as a single verb.” (Proust, Marcel) Swann thus shifts from being completely indifferent towards Odette to being aesthetically inclined towards appreciation for her and Proust has complicated these emotions with a view to understanding human psychology with respect to an emotion as strong as love. Thus, Proust has tried to portray the city of Combray and the way of Swann with respect to each other by showing the kind of fake life that existed in both; he says that Combray was full of appearances and thus was Swann, trying to make something of his feelings that did not exist in reality. In conclusion, this very excerpt by Proust, talked about in this paper, helps to show through Swann’s Way and Regained Time, the kind of emotions that human beings are subject to during the course of their lives, and how these very emotions can eat them up alive if they are not paid attention to. Proust has talked about the kind of longing that a man has for something which turns out to deceive him and make him realise his love for something else altogether. Thus, he talks about the strange journey or ‘Way’ that people must take refuge upon in life, in order to be able to fully understand their goals, needs and desires. Unlike Swann, a person must be able to chance upon the object of his affection without thinking twice. The way Proust has talked about in ‘Regained Time’ or ‘In Search of Lost Time’, is the way that an individual must follow in order to be able to smile and pass away happily from life; he must be able to comprehend the darkest thoughts that he endeavours upon his life and make the most ineffable situations into walks through forests of lilac trees because being positive and being able to understand one’s emotions is the utmost level of courage that a man can be able to undergo and achieve. Works Cited Proust, Marcel. In Search of Lost Time. London: Chatto & Windus, 1992. Print. Proust, M. In Search of Time. - 1: Swanns Way. London: Vintage, 2002. Print. Read More