Proust's Choreographies of Writing: "A la recherche du temps perdu" and the Modern Dance Revolution

• Main Author: Schmid, Marion
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1571-5647; 1879-5870
• DOI: 10.1163/9789004302426_009

Beyond the personal interest Proust took in Ballets Russes productions, what role did the modern dance revolution spearheaded by pioneers such as Nijinsky and Isadora Duncan play in shaping the author's modernist sensitivity? This article explores the manifold resonances between the profound mutation dance underwent in the early decades of the twentieth century and the Recherche, from the emergence of new forms of embodied subjectivity to the interest in polyvalent gender and sexual identities, and, more broadly, a preoccupation with the expressive language of the body. Dance, it will be argued, not only informed reflections on the fluidity of artistic contemplation and the impermanence of theatrical art; it was assimilated into choreographic representations of gesture and the kinaesthetic body.