A PRINCE’S LIBRARY AND A FAIRY POET: METAPOETIC ASPECTS OF THE “GUERMANTES WAY” IN PROUST’S EARLY TEXTS

Marcel Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time” concludes with the narrator’s great revelation that takes place in the Prince de Guermantes’ library. The meaning of this particular setting can be interpreted in different ways. The article examines some of the lesser-known early texts by Marcel Proust that played a significant part in the shaping of Guermantes, not just as a group of characters or a social phenomenon but as a possible metapoetic clue. The turn of the century nobility in Proust’s “Parisian Salons” serves as an eclectic yet inspiring “library” to the narrator, who is preoccupied mostly with reading and constantly recalling fragments of his reading experiences and associations. Almost in the same way Proust uses his mentor, Robert de Montesquiou, not only as a prototype for his baron de Charlus but as a focus point in an elaborate literary game. Anna de Noailles stands aside as the only independent figure in the gallery of charmed princes and princesses: in Proust’s vision she is both a perfect work of art and a perfect author. The article proposes to study Proust’s fascination with the “Guermantes’ way” in the context of his quest for new ways of authorship.