Proust from Benjamin to Adorno: a figural reading

Abstract

Marcel Proust’s notion of time inspired Walter Benjamin’s one; however, they present many differences. Since simple comparisons between the two authors have brought to contrasting results so far, this article tries to explore the possibility of making use of an hermeneutic scheme of which Proustian work may be considered an epigone, the figural interpretation studied by Erich Auerbach, in order to establish three dimensions of time – its structure, its extension and its essence – with respect to which it should be possible to carry about a strict confrontation. The figural approach to Proustian and Benjaminian accounts of time highlights that for the two authors time has both a linear and convoluted facet, but for Proust those aspects are balanced, cover everything and derive from a private act of interpretation, whereas for Benjamin only convoluted time is significant as time exists alongside its negative and is the result of a collective organization.