Anecdotes and Archetypes: Constructive Memory in Ovid and Proust

Each among the most heralded works of their generation, Ovid's Metamorphoses and Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time both capture the ethos of their respective epochs with rich, dizzying constructions that defy... [ view full abstract ]

Each among the most heralded works of their generation, Ovid's Metamorphoses and Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time both capture the ethos of their respective epochs with rich, dizzying constructions that defy narrative convention. These are two authors who force readers, wittingly or not, to reconsider a number of traditional distinctions: the archetypal and the anecdotal, the sacred and the profane, and the individual and society. Although Proust and Ovid have individually inspired ample scholarly work (level with their tremendous cultural and literary inheritance) my presentation will seek to explicate the similarities between their seemingly arbitrary discursive methods to reveal careful psychological and thematic considerations that transcend nearly 2,000 years of time and space. Special attention will be given to the reiterative nature of narrative in both works, meta-literary conceptions of artistic identity, and the autobiographical element at the nexus of each author's corpus. Research material will include the Metamorphoses and In Search of Lost Time (focusing on Swann's Way), other writings by Ovid and Proust (particularly Ovid's Tristia and Proust's Pastiches et Mélanges), and various critics, studies, and other secondary sources.