Les Figures du livre: Essai sur la coïncidence des arts dans 'A la recherche du temps perdu' by Momcilo Milovanovic

Abstract

1134 Reviews principle on which all theatrical spectacle (including that of Claudel) isbased isequally inclusive. This is a consideration that is, perhaps, not fully explored in this volume. The second book under review, Les Mots de 'Tete d'Or' (2e version), is a very dif ferent undertaking in that it offers a detailed guide to the intricacies of one particular Claudelian text, namely the second version of Tete d'Or, as opposed to an overview of a general creative principle that structures all Claudel's dramatic works. However, it shares some common ground with Paul Claudel I9 by virtue of its recognition of the richness of Claudel's dramatic vision and methodology and by means of its attempt to clear apath for the reader through the somewhat daunting maze of signs, symbols, and suggestions apparent therein. While the book confines itself to a detailed discussion of one particular version, its introductory treatment of the play as awork in progress, inwhich each distinct version contributes to an ultimate whole that is not completely articulated by the final product, but rather contained in the different stages of the effort of creation, is fruitful. Statistical analysis of the play reveals some material of interest, such as the relationship between the play's language and other contemporary drama, but while analysis of word distribution highlights some trends, such as amovement away from individual towards collective expression, it is a less rewarding approach in the main. The body of the work focuses on providing a glossary of mythological references and ecclesiastical terminology, along with local expressions and references to natural phenomena. There is also an informative guide to editions and translations published, productions staged, and critical studies of text and productions. This is a limited but enlightening resource for Claudel students and enthusiasts alike. UNIVERSITY OF WALES, ABERYSTWYTH ANWEN JONES Les Figures du livre: essai sur la coincidence des arts dans A la recherche du temps perdu'. By MOMCILOMILOVANOVIC. (Recherches Proustiennes, 5) Paris: Cham pion. 2005. 288 pp. ?50. ISBN 2-7453-1130-I. 'L'art, inlassablement, a besoin des autres arts pour parvenir a se definir': thusMom cilo Milovanovic sets out the premiss for this book (p. 7), which identifies and exa mines some of the figures used by Proust to define 'le livre', both A la recherche and the book the narrator will write. The first of Milovanovic's five chapters examines painting inA la recherche, with particular emphasis on Elstir's Port de Carquethuit and Vermeer's Vue de Delft, whose respective compositional techniques are echoed throughout the Recherche. For Milovanovic, using painters as guides inwhat he calls, without reference to Deleuze, 'l'apprentissage de la vision' (p. 24), is characteristic of Proust's desire to distance himself from literary models. Chapter 2 assesses 'Les toilettes feminines' (those of Mme Swann, the duchesse de Guermantes, and those created by Fortuny), which, like the paintings of Chapter i, are figures to be read. Further, writes Milovanovic, they allow Proust to introduce the language of archi tecture, which he examines at length in a later chapter. We are reminded that the name and work of Fortuny are introduced to the narrator by Elstir, one of many de tails pointing towards the interconnectedness of the arts, on which Milovanovic puts much emphasis. Chapter 3, 'L'objetalimentaire', focuses on Gilberte's chocolate cake as another model of architectural figuring, Albertine's ice creams as illustrative of the role of desire in the creative process, and finally on Francoise's triumphant 'beuf aux carottes' as the boundary-crossing 'figure du livre' par excellence. Chapter 4, on mu sic, raises the question of whether theWagnerian leitmotiv was for Proust an example of an artistic technique he had conceived of already himself, or whether it offered him something he had been unable to find in literature and which he appropriated as his own. Milovanovic suggests that either way, the repetition of motifs is common MLR, IOI.4, 2oo6 II35 tomusic and language and ismasterfully exploited by both artists. He refers in this chapter to Etienne Souriau's La Correspondance des arts (Paris: Flammarion, 1947), which notes that 'ce sont les demarches de la pensee instaurative qui sont semblables entre...