Photography and the ‘Jeu des clefs’: À la recherche du temps perdu in the light of Paul Nadar's portraits
The year 1978 saw the first exhibition of photographic portraits of Marcel Proust's family, friends and acquaintances taken by Paul Nadar, an event leading to renewed interest in the subject of À la recherche du temps perdu as a roman à clef. This article examines two interpretations of Proust&...
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| Format: | Article |
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Edinburgh University Press
2012
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41219/ |
| _version_ | 1848796224447053824 |
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| author | Yacavone, Kathrin |
| author_facet | Yacavone, Kathrin |
| author_sort | Yacavone, Kathrin |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The year 1978 saw the first exhibition of photographic portraits of Marcel Proust's family, friends and acquaintances taken by Paul Nadar, an event leading to renewed interest in the subject of À la recherche du temps perdu as a roman à clef. This article examines two interpretations of Proust's novel in the light of these images, as put forward by William Howard Adams and Roland Barthes. While Adams and Barthes both take George Painter's Proust biography as a starting point for their own readings of the photographs as ‘keys’ to the novel, they offer two contrasting perspectives on À la recherche: Adams emphasizes the transparent and positivistic connection between the author's life and work, whereas Barthes focuses on a more fluid, dialectical and productively ambiguous relation between the two. Both of these perspectives, but particularly Barthes's, it is argued, shed light on the novel's production and the broader, multi-faceted relations between photography, (auto)biography and literature. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:44:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-41219 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:44:35Z |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publisher | Edinburgh University Press |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-412192020-05-04T16:34:21Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41219/ Photography and the ‘Jeu des clefs’: À la recherche du temps perdu in the light of Paul Nadar's portraits Yacavone, Kathrin The year 1978 saw the first exhibition of photographic portraits of Marcel Proust's family, friends and acquaintances taken by Paul Nadar, an event leading to renewed interest in the subject of À la recherche du temps perdu as a roman à clef. This article examines two interpretations of Proust's novel in the light of these images, as put forward by William Howard Adams and Roland Barthes. While Adams and Barthes both take George Painter's Proust biography as a starting point for their own readings of the photographs as ‘keys’ to the novel, they offer two contrasting perspectives on À la recherche: Adams emphasizes the transparent and positivistic connection between the author's life and work, whereas Barthes focuses on a more fluid, dialectical and productively ambiguous relation between the two. Both of these perspectives, but particularly Barthes's, it is argued, shed light on the novel's production and the broader, multi-faceted relations between photography, (auto)biography and literature. Edinburgh University Press 2012-10-30 Article PeerReviewed Yacavone, Kathrin (2012) Photography and the ‘Jeu des clefs’: À la recherche du temps perdu in the light of Paul Nadar's portraits. Nottingham French Studies, 51 (3). pp. 248-260. ISSN 2047-7236 Roland Barthes biography Paul Nadar George Painter Marcel Proust photography À la recherche du temps perdu roman à clef http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/nfs.2012.0025 doi:10.3366/nfs.2012.0025 doi:10.3366/nfs.2012.0025 |
| spellingShingle | Roland Barthes biography Paul Nadar George Painter Marcel Proust photography À la recherche du temps perdu roman à clef Yacavone, Kathrin Photography and the ‘Jeu des clefs’: À la recherche du temps perdu in the light of Paul Nadar's portraits |
| title | Photography and the ‘Jeu des clefs’: À la recherche du temps perdu in the light of Paul Nadar's portraits |
| title_full | Photography and the ‘Jeu des clefs’: À la recherche du temps perdu in the light of Paul Nadar's portraits |
| title_fullStr | Photography and the ‘Jeu des clefs’: À la recherche du temps perdu in the light of Paul Nadar's portraits |
| title_full_unstemmed | Photography and the ‘Jeu des clefs’: À la recherche du temps perdu in the light of Paul Nadar's portraits |
| title_short | Photography and the ‘Jeu des clefs’: À la recherche du temps perdu in the light of Paul Nadar's portraits |
| title_sort | photography and the ‘jeu des clefs’: à la recherche du temps perdu in the light of paul nadar's portraits |
| topic | Roland Barthes biography Paul Nadar George Painter Marcel Proust photography À la recherche du temps perdu roman à clef |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41219/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41219/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41219/ |