Recollection of an Afternoon: A Refutation of Sainte-Beuve

Author: (French) Proust
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-11-01
Features: This book is neither a thesis nor a novel, but an artistic work. A small madeleine cake evokes a series of lingering, uninterrupted unconscious memories, which then take a sharp, incisive turn. The author strongly criticizes the mechanical and flawed methods of the authority critic Sainte-Beuve, as well as the resulting slighting and misinterpretation of all literary geniuses in French literature at the time. The entire book combines lyrical narration with rational speculation, complementing and reflecting each other. Nearly half of the book has a tone similar to or echoing In Search of Lost Time, serving as a condensed essence of the author's thoughts and laying a foundation stone for later textualism and structuralist criticism.