ABSTRACT
In this chapter, some comparative remarks about the modern institution of the museum lead into an understanding of Proust’s use of memory. Baudelaire and Bergson are briefly invoked before entering a comparison of the models of the memory palace and the wunderkammer as formal devices for visualising the past and giving form to history. However, the chapter ends by turning towards a beguiling classic work of contemporary art, La Jetée by Chris Marker, to show that, like Proust this artist is capable of reinstating the truly elusive, enigmatic, and beguiling nature of memory and the way this might influence our image of history.
