Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2007

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Hokenson, Jan W.

Abstract

Although they have been neglected in the critical study of A Ia Recherche de temps perdu. staircases play a crucial role in the great architecture of Proust's text. Evoking the most recent theories of time and space, the Proustian staircase at once moves and docs not move; it is both fluid and tl·ozcn, as an object in material space and in the mental space of memory. From simpler architectural construct to overarching metaphor, the staircase transfonns into a space-time amalgam resonating throughout the text. From grand marble staircases to fetid back stairs, Proust also uses stairways to dramatize ascending, socially ambitious characters and abject, declasscd failures . More than just a representation of social hierarchy or scientific progress, however, Proust's staircases model life and time, both their progression and their decay, and ultimately the coming-towriting of the narrator.

Extent

56 p.

Comments

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2007.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Identifier

FA00000898

Format

pdf

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