Cognitive realism and memory in Proust’s madeleine episode

Abstract

The famous ‘madeleine episode’ of Proust’s In Search of Lost Time is investigated with reference to cognitive realism in the evocation of memory, by asking how this literary memory experience compares with the conceptualization of memory in current cognitive science. Furthermore, what does close reading of the episode informed by current scientific findings and debates on memory and agency tell us about Proust’s categorization of this memory event as involuntary memory, and his presentation of voluntary and involuntary memory as a distinct opposition? I show that the madeleine episode (1) corresponds partly to cognitive realities as documented by recent science and partly to prevalent expectations about cognition or its narration, and (2) undermines the neat voluntary/involuntary distinction it initially seems to illustrate. I suggest how these qualities may affect readers’ responses to Proust’s famously evocative object.