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PARTISAN REVIEW
fying general laws in furthering the development of our knowledge
of man, whether through new discoveries or through the intensity
of
his
projection.
Out of the scattered pieces of an absurd life which are thrown
at him, he must create another life, perhaps just as absurd, but whose
absurdity is then re-thought, presented as such and intended as such.
Another
life: that is the whole point.
In this the work of Proust is exemplary. Not only because of
the exceptional strength and novelty of Proust the genius, ,but also
because of the remarkable insignificance of the two characters who
stand at either end of the Proustian chain: the man, Marcel Proust,
the banal purveyor of raw materials, and Marcel, the hero, that
soft and painted image through which time seeps. The greatness of
the work depends entirely upon the intermediaries: Marcel, the
narrator, who tries to recapture the time which is lost and finally
succeeds in doing so, and Proust, the author, who has already re–
captured it long before Marcel, the narrator, emboldened by his
discovery, decided to take up his pen to relate its low, minute, long,
and invisible progress.
Marcel, the narrator, who says "I"; Marcel, the hero, who is
"I"; Proust, the author, who never says "I," but constantly inter–
venes, even within the narration itself, who directs everything, under–
stands everything, hurries the narrator, makes him linger when neces–
sary, watches for his discoveries, makes use of them to enrich himself
and never loses sight of the goal aimed at; and finally, Marcel Proust,
whose snobbery, kindness, politeness, nerves, illness, and vices provide
a lucid, pure, and indifferent Proust with a screen behind which he
weaves
his
web. How skillfully does Proust utilize to his own ad–
vantage the physical, moral, and social deficiencies of that weather–
beaten man who assumes the responsibility for
his
public appearances
and for the miserable burden of living, for the sake of
his
own peace
0/.
mind and
his
freedom. Never, surely, have the qualitative differ–
ences between the elements which make up the personality of a great
man better isolated
his
genius and better demonstrated his essential
reality, which is almost independent of the being which he inhabits.
For the life of Marcel Proust and the work of Proust have no
common denominator. Witness the incredible difference in quality
