Epilogue: Proustian afterlives

Summary

The idea that Bergotte was not dead for ever is by no means improbable.

They buried him, but all through that night of mourning, in the lighted shop-windows, his books, arranged three by three, kept vigil like angels with outspread wings and seemed, for him who was no more, the symbol of his resurrection.

(C, 209; P, 1744)

Almost a century after the publication of Swann's Way, and well over eighty years after his death, Proust undoubtedly lives on in the twenty-first century. Like Bergotte's, his books still keep vigil on displays in stores and shelves in libraries. Critics and commentators, journalists and bloggers mention his name, allude to traits of his work; opinions and idées reçues pass between generations of readers; and so, improbably yet perceptibly, in our modern, hurried world where verbal communication comes in ‘tweets’ rather than tomes, the man, the myth and the work live on. In Search of Lost Time continues to attract readers and provoke critical responses, but not solely in the form of scholarly articles, monographs and academic conferences. For many years Proust's face and appearance have been caricatured by cartoonists and illustrators in the broadsheets, literary journals and colour supplements. Since 1998 enthusiasts have been following and awaiting successive instalments of Stéphane Heuet's version of In Search of Lost Time in graphic novel format, of which five beautifully illustrated volumes have appeared to date.