Dictionnaire Marcel Proust by Annick Bouillaguet, Brian G. Rogers

Abstract

856 Reviews but, above all, by the beautiful set of photographs, sketches, and prints which follow the text. Turning to Rimbaud ingenieur, we find an equally attractive and engaging book. Dotoli suggests that Rimbaud very much wanted to be an engineer and argues that the poet was fascinated by science. Rimbaud absorbed all sorts of books on engineer ing, including areas such asmetallurgy and hydraulics, and was constantly making use of works of reference leading to the creation of his own technical library. Dotoli interestingly speculates that Rimbaud may have dreamt of the glory of a great sci entific breakthrough and hoped that such an invention might ultimately have had an application in agriculture inAfrica. What ismost thought-provoking here isDotoli's idea that the poetry and the passion for science and engineering have a common de nominator in the pursuit of 'l'inconnu'. Chapter 4 is a good illustration of the detail available inDotoli's study, for here he looks at Rimbaud's interest in 'instruments de precision' such as optical and astronomical devices and others in the fields of elec tricity, pneumatics, and hydraulics. He then argues that 'Rimbaud veut cou'te que couite etre un ingenieur de laphotographie' (p. I3 i), an assertion that leads to further stimulating thoughts on the silent movies and the idea of photography as a kind of modern poetry. That Rimbaud was 'un ingenieur reveur, un visionnaire de la science' (P. I78) seems a convincing argument and, as earlier, the poetry which speaks so often of dreams, projects, and a new order appears to prefigure the ensuing 'ecriture sci entifique' (p. 210). Setting Rimbaud in a long line of artist-inventors (Pascal, Dante, Da Vinci), Dotoli writes lucidly and persuasively of a visionary who insisted that 'il faut etre absolument moderne'. In summary, these two volumes contribute equally well to our understanding of two facets of Rimbaud's work and experience which have hitherto been insufficiently explored. UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER GERALD MACKLIN Dictionnaire Marcel Proust. Ed. by ANNICK BOUILLAGUETand BRIAN G. ROGERS. Preface by ANTOINE COMPAGNON. Paris: Champion. 2004. 1099 PP. eIo0. ISBN 2-7453-0956-o. A reference work of this type could give the impression of containing the writer, locking him in or reducing him to facts and trends. Fortunately, in this case, because of the very wide range and variety of the articles, it develops an energy all its own and becomes a liberating search engine for acquaintance and reacquaintance with Proust, who would certainly have approved. Itwill be recalled that he himself possessed and exploited such awork in his day on Balzac, viz. theRepertoire de la Comedie Humaine de Balzac by Cerfberr and Christophe (I887), discovering in it fascinating material about Balzac and his creative methods as well as a new departure for himself. The whole revelation of Balzac's recurring characters, which the dictionary made evident, became a stimulating and solid base for Proust's treatment of his own creations and especially, with their reappearances, their uniquely Proustian development in time. Approached in this vein, this compilation will encourage the reader to go along with Antoine Compagnon's claim in his preface: 'Ce dictionnaire, loin d'enfermer l'ceuvre, d'epingler ses elements, de limiter sa portee, ouvre grand le chantier de ses interpretations' (p. 8). Looking over the very broad field the compilers have to cover, and with consis tent editorial control, they have revisited the previous scattered and varied lists of characters, themes, and places and produced a reference text all under one roof, as it were, that supersedes them. This is an update that can be consulted in several dif ferent ways at the reader's whim: a detailed who's who of characters inLa Recherche MLR, IOI.3, 2oo6 857 and elsewhere, a stimulating array of themes, a gallery of associated writers, artists, and historical figures, a bird's-eye view of critical and philosophical trends, each one a prism that casts light in surprising and enlightening directions. Apart from re wardingly informative factual information, tailor-made for both general reader and advanced Proustian researcher, we also have meaty examinations, by several hands, of speculative subjects from memory to la mort. Proust is...