reaction to Proust

I really enjoyed reading the selections by Proust. While it was difficult to follow because of the author’s writing style, I thought that it was interesting to read and provided a couple key insights into the study of time. In the selections from “Time Regained,” I found the following quote relevant to our study of time: “…I experienced them at the present moment and at the same time in the context of a distant moment, so that the past was made to encroach upon the present and I was made to doubt whether I was in the one or the other.” This quote reminded me of the scene we watched in class from the Marriage of Figaro. The Count was explaining to Susanna and Basilio what had happened to him the day before, when the Count had discovered Cherubino in a place he wasn’t supposed to be. While the Count was telling this story, he again discovers Cherubino in another place he wasn’t supposed to be. I think this quote from the Proust readings describes that collision of past and present that we witnessed in the movie. I think the other selections from Proust, “Swanns Way,” highlights the importance of memory to the human experience and our perception of time. The madeleine contained a memory for the narrator. Similarly, a material object can contain a memory for us. It doesn’t even have to be a material object; a memory can be contained in a song as well. In this way, time becomes manifested in the material world.