Living the Past as a Metaphor: Writing and Re-Writing the Past in Marcel Proust’s Time Regained and Its Translation into Estonian

Authors

  • Madli Kütt

Keywords:

French literature, Proust, Marcel, literary translation, Estonian language, metaphors, involuntary memory, the past, subject-object relation

Abstract

Marcel Proust’s writing of the past is metaphorical. Instead of reminiscing about the moments of the past, Proust’s narrator experiences them again, in and through his present moment. The translation doubles the experience of writing by re-writing the narrator’s impressions in another language. The Estonian translation offers a particular angle by changing the focus from subject-object connection to the relations between the objects themselves. The article will discuss three views on how the Estonian translation transforms Proust’s metaphorical writing: the dynamics of memory spaces, the visuality of experiencing the past, and the involuntary aspect of these experiences.

References

Jaeck, Lois Marie. Marcel Proust and the Text as Macrometaphor. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990.

Lattre, Alain de. La Doctrine de la réalité chez Proust. Vol. I. Paris: Librairie José Corti, 1979.

Mattiussi, Laurent. “Entre terre et ciel : Proust et le double jeu de la métaphore.” Métaphores et cultures : en mots et en images. Eds. Véronique Alexandre-Journeau, Violaine Anger, Forence Lautel-Ribstein, Laurent Mattiussi. Paris: L’Harmattan, 2012. 157–174. (L’univers esthétique). Web May 1, 2015. https://hal-univ-lyon3.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00903247v2.

Õnnepalu, Tõnu. “Saateks.” [Afterword.] Vikerkaar 7/8 (2003): 63–68.

Proust, Marcel. À la recherche du temps perdu. Vols. I–IV. Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 1987–1989. (Coll. Pléiade).

– – –. Taasleitud aeg [Le Temps retrouvé]. Trans. Tõnu Õnnepalu. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2004.

Simon, Anne. Proust ou le réel retrouvé. Le sensible et son expression dans À la recherche du temps perdu. Paris: Honoré Champion, 2011.

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Published

2017-11-01

Issue

Section

Thematic section