Understanding Bergson, Understanding Modernism by Paul Ardoin;S. E. Gontarski;Laci Mattison;

Author:Paul Ardoin;S. E. Gontarski;Laci Mattison;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781441140470
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Published: 2019-11-27T00:00:00+00:00

A Bergson–Proust chronology

Introduction

Why a chronology of the letters, works, and lives of a philosopher (Bergson) and a novelist? The answer must be: because the mutual relations between these two important figures have been understood at best superficially and at worst, mistakenly. By bringing together their correspondence with each other and their many other points of contact one can construct a more accurate view of interrelations, both conceptual and personal.

What follows is thus a chronological presentation of major dates in the lives of both figures, including their various publications, their letters to and concerning each other, and any comments each made on the other’s works. It is interesting that Proust made an early acquaintance with Bergson’s writings. It is equally interesting that Bergson read Proust’s writing in depth, commenting on them as late as 1938, sixteen years after Proust’s death and three years before his own.

The following summation is as complete as the author has been able to make it. It is, however, likely that more such Bergson-Proust materials can be found. To do so it would be necessary to prowl the literary cultural massive Nachlass of those who knew, and knew of, these two men.

Some of the entries in this chronology require explanation. Dates of birth and death, or of book or article publication, are intended as signposts, not as proof of relations between the two authors. These are indicators of broad historical context. Some items included above involve factual assertions by third parties concerning Bergson and Proust. They are understood to be “secondary literature.”

The references in 1908 and 1909 to Proust annotations of Matter and Memory require some explanation. Philip Kolb cites Proust’s annotations of Matter and Memory as taking place in 1908. Florence Callu and Antoine Compagnon note that many (but by no means all) of Proust’s annotations are in red ink, which places them in 1909. It appears, then, that Proust reexamined Matter and Memory in both 1908 and 1909, the years in which he was working out both the structure and the meaning of his great novel.

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