Without Desire in Search of Lost Time would be Nothing - Essay Example

? Order No# 618071 Without desire In Search of Lost time would be nothing Introduction The seven volumes of Search of Lost Time with which MarcelProust is credited with, spin around varied themes. Are the contents of these volumes own life-experiences of Marcel Proust? No tangible answer can be given to this question. Theory captures in the texts the experience of other individuals. What he has written is massive and it could be his experience clubbed with imagination. All themes dealt with by him in the books may not exercise an identical volume of pressure on his mind. In the present essay the theme desire, as perceived by the author has been highlighted, but this is a theme which is difficult to discuss in isolation. It is related and intermingled with other themes. The word desire has no independent status. It is qualified by the adjectives like good, bad, etc. Desire has intense relationship to conflicts of the inner world of an individual and the secular challenges that one encounters. Marcel Proust is aware of these limitations. The normal expectations of the mainstream society in relation to an individual are -- be a good citizen, lend a helping hand to the needy etc. The negative desires are immoral sex, addiction to drugs, loose moral character, violent tendencies and the like. The listing of positive and negative desires can go on and on. Of the negative desires, the desire for unlicensed, excessive sensual pleasure is considered as bad. Viewed from finer aspects of morality, desire for a particular sexual act is as bad as engaging in the act itself. Bad words are as bad as bad deeds! Desire is normally considered as a negative trait. It is the stumbling block to individual in the true sense and obstructs the progress of the one seeking true happiness and freedom. 2. SWAN’S WAY The book begins with the problem of Marcel to get the elusive sleep. Suddenly we find that issue with Marcel is not, getting or not getting sleep but the nature of the sleep. That he is afraid of the darkness is only an alibi for his desire to investigate and know the ability of sleep to deny people of their individuality, and how an individual tries to pick up the thread of his life before going to sleep and after he wakes up, to retain the continuity in his life. The answer to this problem needs to be understood from the perspective of the nature and functioning of the mind. Broadly speaking, the mind is the storehouse of desires. It is an extraordinary gift of God, with boundless energy, and it is a wonderful conduit. Generally, in the hectic schedule of day to day life, an individual is unable to comprehend how potent the mind is and how useful it can prove to get at the true nature of the desires. Human mind is a double—edged sword. If bridled with the reins of true knowledge, it can open the portals for peaceful (blissful) living, and if left unbridled, it can also make a hell out of life. Desire, from the negative standpoint is destructive, but from the constructive view point, it is productive. Study the journey of man from the age of horse-driven carts to the age of steam engines, and, finally to the age of computerized travelling and space odyssey during the last one century. It bears testimony to the dexterity of the desires that sprout without intermission that are properly directed by humankind. The major highlight of “Swann’s Way” is the theme of relationship between time and memory. It is Proust’s primary motivation. Proust believed that time is not a fixed entity and it is not possible to measure it or quantify it. Instead, time, he often calls it duration, involved a flowing together of varied moments and experiences so that one unit of time is indistinguishable from the other. The voluntary, unfixed and difficult—to--predict the power of the memory to take a person back in time forms the stylistic and thematic edifice of Swann’s Way. Desire to discover oneself is the strongest desire in a human being. With the bricks an individual constructs the edifice and wishes to erect heaven on this earth. But motivated desires can never bring about permanent happiness. Fulfilling a desire or a number of desires is in no way helps the accomplishment of the ultimate goal of human life. Mental power is important; but proper mental frame to utilize that power is more important. The discriminative power is the best mediator for the mind pursuing desires. It acts as the jeans that control the galloping horse. By harmonising the various desires related to the physical, mental and intellectual levels, with the power of the supreme faculty known as Pure Consciousness, one can live life in harmony and perfect rhythm. Thus desires can be the storehouse of unlimited potential and they can extract extraordinary powers, hidden within an individual. Desires can be the cosmic connectors of one’s mind to the soul, and can be the keys to the repository of spiritual affluence. Marcel’s compelled emotional disposition towards his mother proves that desire to discover oneself is the strongest desire in a human being. With the bricks of desires an individual constructs the edifice and wishes to erect heaven on this earth. But motivated desires can never bring about permanent happiness. For example Proust looks forward for his mother’s guidance, love and sympathy but having received these, he still possesses the motivated desire and he feels guilty for not being more independent. Fulfilling a desire or a number of desires is in no way helps the accomplishment of the ultimate goal of human life. The discriminative power is the best mediator for the mind pursuing desires. Thus desires can be the storehouse of unlimited potential and they can extract extraordinary powers, hidden within an individual if they are nit motivated. But Proust fails to connect his desires about his relationship with his mother properly, and concludes that he is invariably causing her some sort of grief. 2. WITHIN A BUDDING GROVE Marcel Proust is aware of these limitations. He wrote, “Our desires cut across one other, and in this confused existence, it is rare for happiness to coincide with desire.”(p.83) Desire has a precedent and when fulfilled results in an action, whether good or bad. The final frontier of the desires is the mind. Desires are, therefore related to time and space. But in the state of transcendence, the non-dual awareness of an individual is lost. At the level of reason (mind) desires sprout with an assumption that they are real, obtainable, solid and lasting. If the mind is compared to the ocean, the desires are like the waves. A swimmer while on the forward move, doesn’t count the waves, but looks forward to reach the destination. This book, “Remembrance of Things Past: Volume I - Swann's Way and Within a Budding Grove” is not a reading exercise, but it is for experiencing. It has answers to the inner throbbing of an individual. It makes one understand the surface value of the desires and their actual potentialities. Realisation dawns on the swimmer (the reader,) that howsoever powerful are the waves, their real content is mere water! In the entire book, Proust’s attachment to the wonder called time can be clearly experienced. He articulates how time flows in any given life. He emphasises that in order to capture time passing, the novelist generally is given to "wildly accelerating the beat of the pendulum, to transport the reader in a couple of minutes over ten, or twenty, or even thirty years."(99) He treats time like a rubber toy; he condenses it, extends it, rearranges it and shortens it. He beautifully pictures the importance and influence of time in the life of his characters. Therefore, his prose and story turns to an experience, not mere reading, as stated earlier. Therefore, the next question is, is desire something that should be eradicated? Conversely, “In Search of Lost Time, Volume II,” Marcel Proust wrote, “…whereas to give our happiness its full meaning, we would rather preserve for all those separate points of our desire.”(p.151) The author is exposed to real life situations. By now, the author has attained an impressionable age and has become part of the combustible generation. Now he is no more a passive observer of incidents of life but has to deal with them independently and face the consequences. Sexual desire is one of the strongest desires that have the capacity to sway the mind of an individual completely. Bertrand Russell writes, “Desires, that is to say, in certain bodily conditions he is stimulated to restless activities which tend towards the performance of…” (98)Like other desires, the process of this desire commences with the origination of thoughts related to sex in the mind. This novel deals with the author’s first encounter with love and infatuation with Albertine. Initially the author is attracted to the whole group of Albertine and her friends and gradually he becomes close to Albertine. Albertine rejects the author. Thoughts thus originated have deep-rooted impact upon our lifestyle, as they form the root cause of joys anticipated of the fulfillment of the desire for sex. Such desires flourish with the fertilising information provided by the senses. The sensual perception of the world of gratification through the power of vision, hearing, taste or touch breeds the desire and vivid imagination in our mental garden. The same desire, when it bubbles forth repeatedly, assumes form of thoughts. These thoughts if not controlled in time and permitted to pop up again and again, assume the form of strong desires seeking urgent fulfillment. Once an individual is determined to seek fulfillment of such desires, it is hard to eradicate them. The only course open at that juncture is to seek its fulfillment, either for good or bad. This was the condition of Proust when his interactions with Albertine commenced. Basically, the desire for happiness through sexual pleasures, upon completion, often leaves the trail of sorrows. Desire cannot exist without sorrow and sorrow has no value without happiness. The existence of a desire pre-supposes the distance between the object of desire and the concerned self. Not having the object in one’s possession is the root cause of desire. Desire gives rise to discursive thinking. Gross and subtle bodies are affected depending upon the nature of the desire. No mechanism exists that leads to the ultimate fulfillment of the desire. When a desire arises, the entire body-mind mechanism is surcharged into activity. The status of the object of desire plays the pivotal role as for the course of its fulfillment by the individual who desires. The achievement of one desire is not the end of the road and will not result in its permanent fulfillment. One desire will make room for the other. The mechanism of desire is built with the arousal of hope and fear. The hope that the desire will be fulfilled and the fear that it won’t be! This is the reason for the suffering of an individual in particular and humankind in general. In this particular episode, it is difficult to decide whether the author succeeded in checkmating his desire for the close association with Albertine or with the passage of time, the impact of the desire diluted to vanish ultimately. No, it did not vanish with Proust but sprouted again, as would be learnt later. Proust wrote, “The places we have known do not belong only to the world of space on which we map them for our own convenience. None of them was ever more than a thin slice, held together between the contiguous impressions that composed our life at that time; the memory of a particular image is but regret for a particular moment; and houses, roads, avenues are as fugitive, alas, as the years."(p.462) 3. THE CAPTIVE The full power of the desire, is highlighted in the volume, “The Captive (also the Prisoner) and it indicates the plight of the mind---state of an individual under such circumstances. The author is irresistibly attracted towards Albertine. Their association has progressed one step forward, she is living with the author in his family apartment, inviting displeasure from all concerned, including author’s mother. The author’s desire about the whereabouts of Albertine is intense and has reached the point of no return. Marcel Proust deals with various segments that make human life and society which are the fertile grounds that allow the desires to sprout and grow. Some of the important areas are literature, sexuality, life and death, nationalism etc. But the topmost argument in the book is the exploration of memory, recollection of the past, and the way they interact with each other. But this is only the partial explanation of the nature of desires and their growth. Proust cannot fault on this count. It is just the way of looking at the nature of desires and their impact viewed from that angle. To augment his arguments about the source and nature of desires Proust highlights details from the biography of other people, the protagonist encounters, in this particular case Albertine takes the front seat in his vehicle of desires. The successes, failures and ambitions of such individuals are highlighted. Sexuality is depicted as one of the important motifs in the book, how it is the source of intense desires, some uncontrollable ones leading to tragedy. The hypocrisy of society as for sexual desires is aptly described. Many categories of sexual desires are depicted, including the suspected infidelity of Albertine. Caught in such a web of suspicion about the individual whom he ardently desires, he loses his mental balance and sense of proportion and tries to place restrictions on Albertine. This leads to the termination of relationship with the author by Albertine. The emphasis on sexual desires outreaches the time element. Before the author tries to make amends for his indiscretion, Albertine has gone with some other man. The author puts his mental condition this way. In the book “The Captive,” he wrote, “I wasn’t old enough, and I’d remained too sensitive to have outgrown the desire to please others and to possess thorn.”(13) 4. TIME REGAINED The last volume of the novel is roughly translated as “Time Regained.” One clearly sees the impact and the hold of the desire on the author. He meets Gilberte and stays with her at her home. The secret is now revealed to him that Gilberte too was fascinated to him when she was young. The author painfully recollects the past events and his erstwhile association with Gilberte. He tries to fathom the depth of the two relationships, the past and the present with one individual whom he desires—Gilberte. He ponders how things change and how the impacts of the feelings vary with the passage of time. In “ Time Regained: In Search of Lost Time, Vol. VI” Proust wrote, “we must mention too, if our account is to be complete, a desire, the older he grew, to appear young, and also the impatience characteristic of those…”(p.12) The contacts with then past and the present are the issues that enable us to think outside the box and provide a platform for an individual with in-wit. He would be able to judge the things in proper perspective. The author repented and remarked, “But alas! I could no longer hope to find again those particular girls for whom at this moment my desire was so strong…” (p.438) This is the real issue with the life of Proust. A writer, howsoever intelligently one tries, cannot sweep under the carpet incidents related to one’s own life. They will have substantial comments in the lives of characters penned by him. Harold Bloom wrote, “The narrator’s constant preoccupation with his desire and hope for love is the most influential factor in all his dreams as a child, adolescent, and young man.”(p.47) But as time rolled by, Proust’s found new symbols for his desire. William C. Carter wrote, “Proust later depicted an astonishingly variety of flowers as manifestations of beauty and as symbols of desires and sexuality. (p.31). Ralph Martin wrote, “The sooner we’re transformed the happier and more “fulfilled” we’ll be. The only way to the fulfillment of all desires is to undertake and complete the journey to God.”(8) 5. CONCLUSION What is the true nature of desire? To put in one word it is ‘indefinable.’ Its canvass is vast. Its expanse is immeasurable. But, it is too simplistic a statement to say, “Without desire In Search of Lost time would be nothing.” Many types of desires sprout at various levels of progression of an individual. The intensity of a particular desire varies from one individual to the other. William C. Carter wrote, “Marcel’s letters reveal his intense self-scrutiny and remarkable ability with words, his passion for literature, his at times nearly ravenous desire to be loved and find happiness, all combining to create a made-up world in which he finds or seeks happiness.” (p.74) In Search of Lost Time, is a conglomeration of many themes and in this essay the theme of desire has been dealt with exhaustively qualified by “Without desire In Search of Lost time would be nothing.” Desire is one of the important themes on which Proust has offered interesting and thought provoking comments. Prost in “Time Regained,” wrote, “The falsehood consists for them in the fact that they do not want to admit to themselves that physical desire lies at the root if the sentiments to which they ascribe another origin…” (p.80) This is a pointer how an individual tries to show the make-believe world to others, by his double-dealing disposition. He also gives lots of importance, to memory and recollection of the past events and the new perspectives gained by an individual for the same set of experiences, with the passage of time. This is a difficult fusion on a subject of desire that spreads over an extraordinary big canvass. Proust desired to take the challenge to deeply and extensively analyze the desire and he has succeeded in his efforts. Recollection of the past impressions and desires is the strength of the book and his descriptions on the nature of desire are broadly acceptable and should find appreciation from a wide section of readership. His handling of the concept of memory in relation to desires is admirable. WORKS CITED Bloom, Harold. Marcel Prost; Chelses House Publishers, 2003 Carter, William C. Marcel Proust: A Life. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000. Martin, Ralph. The Fulfillment of All Desire: Emmaus Road Publishing; 2006 Proust, Marcel (Author), Moncrieff, C.K. Scott, (Translator) The Captive; NBM Publishing; 2002 Proust, Marcel. Remembrance of Things Past: Volume I - Swann's Way & Within a Budding Grove. 1982; Vintage; 1st Vintage Books edition Proust, Marcel (Author) Enright, D. J. (Editor), Moncrieff, C.K. Scott (Translator), Kilmartin, Terence (Translator): In Search of Lost Time, Vol. II: Within a Budding Grove (Modern Library Classics) (v. 2) Modern Library, November 3, 1998. Proust, Marcel (Author), Kilmartin, Joanna (Editor), Mayor, Andreas (Translator), Kilmartin, Terence (Translator) Time Regained: In Search of Lost Time, Vol. VI (Modern Library Classics) (v. 6): Modern Library; February 16, 1999 Russell, Bertrand. Bundle: An Outline of Philosophy, (Routledge Classics). Routledge; 2009 Read More