THE METAPHOR OF BIRDS IN “A LA RECHERCHE DU TEMPS PERDU” (IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME) BY M. PROUST

Abstract

The article is dedicated to a problem of literary reception in M. Proust’s novel “A la recherche du temps perdu” (In Search of Lost Time)”. The object of comparative analysis is the transformation of literary topic in Proust’s “Albertine cycle”. The article considers M. Proust’s ornithological metaphors from rhetorical device to folkloristic motif. Analogies with birds belong to the two traditional strategies of the text: “satirical” and “panegyrical”, in the latter comparison with the noble animal points to the exclusivity of the characters, their affiliation to the superior race. Particularly noteworthy are the cases when the metaphor of the “bird” is combined with the topos of The Garden of Eden and with the motif of “miraculous marriage” (in particular, in “Albertine cycle”). Most frequently Proust refers to the two emblematic images: the singing bird in the tree and the fight between the bird and the snake. The article shows that in this case comparative operations are very complicated, as it is necessary to take into account a system, consisting of the different creative and ideological positions of Proust.