Looking at this photo of Marcel Proust, I remember, from his angelic expression, Iris Murdoch declaring that, Proust writes like an angel.
Not only does Proust write like an angel, but he uses frequent metaphors about the angelic nature, in his poetic descriptions about what he sees. The delicacy and purity of the passage in which he mentions the pear trees in flower he saw in the "accursed" city, while waiting for Saint- Loup and the latter's maitresse, even led him to wonder whether those were not really angels!
This alternation of a higher reality with the one we take for granted and is in front of our eyes happens often throughout The Search, and makes, in my opinion, some of the highest peaks of this novel. I say amen to flowers being angels, after I read Proust's angelic description of them.
Note that, in this passage, he mentions Mary Magdalene's mistaking Jesus for a gardener, her confusing the resurrected one for a mere mortal man. By this, Proust makes a parallelism between our usual, commonsensical view of flowers as mere plants, and our overlooking their angelic nature.
The passage I am referring to was supposed to be happening around Easter, which certainly contributed to Proust's mention of Jesus resurrected.
Resurrection is another frequent theme through The Search, whether taken metaphorically- as death of an old self and rebirth into a new one- or botanically, like in the passage Proust writes, when thinking about his work to be written, that he, as a seed, must die so that the fruit can grow out of "him", what actually did happen. Proust is essentially Christian because he is self-sacrificial to the core, and he is an angel because he did channel the angelic nature.
This alternation of a higher reality with the one we take for granted and is in front of our eyes happens often throughout The Search, and makes, in my opinion, some of the highest peaks of this novel. I say amen to flowers being angels, after I read Proust's angelic description of them.
Note that, in this passage, he mentions Mary Magdalene's mistaking Jesus for a gardener, her confusing the resurrected one for a mere mortal man. By this, Proust makes a parallelism between our usual, commonsensical view of flowers as mere plants, and our overlooking their angelic nature.
The passage I am referring to was supposed to be happening around Easter, which certainly contributed to Proust's mention of Jesus resurrected.
Resurrection is another frequent theme through The Search, whether taken metaphorically- as death of an old self and rebirth into a new one- or botanically, like in the passage Proust writes, when thinking about his work to be written, that he, as a seed, must die so that the fruit can grow out of "him", what actually did happen. Proust is essentially Christian because he is self-sacrificial to the core, and he is an angel because he did channel the angelic nature.
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