Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 60-12, Section: A, page: 4454.

Director: Ora Avni.

This dissertation takes as its point of departure the 19th-century obsession with the understanding of the human mind. Whether it concerns literature, philosophy, psychology, science or history, there seems to be a growing interest in the role and functioning of intelligence. As the 19th century progresses, however, what was once considered a mere faculty, goes from being an object of study to a sign of power and aesthetics. I believe that Proust's work crystallizes best this phenomenon.

Starting with the definition of 19th-century "intelligence," the dissertation traces its complex history alongside major literary trends from the Romantic critique of the Enlightenment to the birth of positivism. This difficult shift is analyzed through the following example: the split between history and literature that estranged artists and fortified the power of scientists in the political field.

The first chapter turns to Proust's reaction to literary critics such as Sainte-Beuve, Taine and Bourget in Contre Sainte-Beuve, the starting block of la Recherche. It shows how the essay was not only directed against Sainte-Beuve, but also against the 19th-century's positivist definition of literature. Contre Sainte-Beuve helped Proust to prepare a new conception of criticism through the rereading of Balzac and Baudelaire, and shape his views on the role of intelligence in a work of art.

Chapter 2 shows the extent to which the reflection on intelligence is at the heart of A la recherche du temps perdu. This section explains how Proust uncovers the instrument of power that lies behind new intellectual values. In La Recherche the narrator asks repeatedly how he can reconcile (what he thinks to be) his lack of intelligence with society's belief that a work of art is made of intelligent thoughts. The goal of this chapter is to go beyond the usual debate on Proust's aesthetic distrust of intelligence, and shift the problem towards a socially oriented critique of overvalorization of intelligence.

Chapter 3 studies the specifics of Proust's aesthetics in response to psychological debates of the 19th century where intelligence was considered a disease affecting will, and consequently artistic creativity. This final chapter shows how Proust integrates such discourses as Ribot's and Schopenhauer's, among others, and finds an aesthetic alternative to the crisis of intelligence and will.