Introduction

Proust went about obtaining photographs of those he found fascinating with characteristic single-mindedness, and his persistence in the face of opposition from those reluctant to exchange portraits with a man they barely knew was impressive, as his correspondence repeatedly proves. It is essential to clarify photography's distinctive characteristics so as to assess accurately the significance of photographic motifs in A la recherche du temps perdu, since image production and dissemination in the nineteenth century was by no means confined to the media mentioned so far. This meticulous dissection of the nature of seeing and remembering the beloved, fugitive woman now forever beyond tangible reach uses photography as a master metaphor for both these processes. According to Marcel, perception involves a condensing of the lived temporal continuum into discrete, discontinuous moments of time. Since 1839, fiction writers have recorded their responses to photography.