An Unprecedented Deformation: Marcel Proust And The Sensible Ideas (suny Series In Contemporary Continental Philosophy)

French Novelist Marcel Proust Made Famous Involuntary Memory, A Peculiar Kind Of Memory That Works Whether One Is Willing Or Not And That Gives A Transformed Recollection Of Past Experience. More Than A Centruy Later, The Proustian Notion Of Involuntary Memory Has Not Been Fully Explored Nor Its Implications Understood. By Providing Clarifying Examples Taken From Proust's Novel And By Commenting On Them Using The Work Of French Philosophers Maurice Merleau-ponty And Gilles Deleuze, Italian Philosopher Mauro Carboneinterprets Involuntary Memory As The Humen Faculty Providing The Involuntary Creation Of Our Ideas Through The Transformation Of Past Experience. This Rethinking Of The Traditional Way Of Conceiving Ideas And Their Genesis As Separated From Sensible Experience As Has Been Done In Western Thought Since Plato Allows The Author To Promote A New Theory Of Knowledge, One Which Is Best Exemplified Via Literature And Art Much More Than Philosophy.--book Jacket. Seek? : More Than That : Create -- Nature : Variations On The Theme -- The Mythical Time Of The Ideas : Merleau-ponty And Deleuze As Readers Of Proust -- Deformation And Recognition : Proust In The Reversal Of Platonism -- The Words Of The Oracle : Merleau-ponty And The Philosophy Of Freudianism -- How Can One Recognize What One Did Not Know? : Mnemosyne And The Art Of The Twentieth Century -- Love And Music : Theme And Variations. Mauro Carbone ; Translated By Niall Keane. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. French novelist Marcel Proust made famous "involuntary memory," a peculiar kind of memory that works whether one is willing or not and that gives a transformed recollection of past experience. More than a century later, the Proustian notion of involuntary memory has not been fully explored nor its implications understood. By providing clarifying examples taken from Proust's novel and by commenting on them using the work of French philosophers Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Gilles Deleuze, Italian philosopher Mauro Carbone interprets involuntary memory as the human faculty providing the involuntary creation of our ideas through the transformation of past experience. This rethinking of the traditional way of conceiving ideas and their genesis as separated from sensible experience-as has been done in Western thought since Plato-allows the author to promote a new theory of knowledge, one which is best exemplified via literature and art much more than philosophy. An Unprecedented Deformation 5 Contents 7 Abbreviations 9 Introduction“Seek? More Than That: Create.” 11 1. Nature: Variations on the Theme“Why are there several samples of each thing?” 23 2. The Mythical Time of the Ideas:Merleau-Ponty and Deleuze as Readers of Proust 33 3. Deformation and Recognition:Proust in the “Reversal of Platonism” 43 4. “The Words of the Oracle”: Merleau-Pontyand the “Philosophy of Freudianism” 59 5. How Can One Recognize What One Did Not Know?: Mnemosyne and the Art of the Twentieth Century 69 Appendix: Love and Music: Theme and Variations 79 Notes 93 Index 121 A 121 B 121 C 121 D 121 E 121 F 122 G 122 H 122 I 122 J 122 K 122 L 122 M 122 N 122 O 122 P 122 R 123 S 123 T 123 U 123 V 123 W 123