ABSTRACT

As free as Stephen Heath, the would-be artist, might wish himself to be, his interior monologue reveals the influence of his upbringing and background. This chapter looks at the artist's fear that idle talk will rob him of his mind and voice. Marcel Proust certainly does have a fear of being silenced and made indistinct, a fear of losing his voice in the midst of social discourse. But the idea that Marcel in fact cannot 'be bothered' to pursue his impressions, often leaving off to pursue instead the more immediate 'pleasures' of friendship, love and so on, recurs in the text. The actual reference to what Proust terms 'l'oblique discours interieur' only occurs once but it is a notion that nevertheless underlies much of the text. The chapter talks about the most honest explanations to account for the Narrator's/Proust's materials: all that can be of service, love, friendship, enmity, will be used for its impact on the Narrator.