Stern, Thomas; (2023) Proustian Habit. In: Stern, Thomas and Elsner, Anna, (eds.) The Proustian Mind. (pp. 161-175). Routledge: London, UK. (In press).

Text Chapter 10, Proustian Habit, final submitted version.pdf - Submitted Version Access restricted to UCL open access staff Download (658kB)

Abstract

Habit or habituation (l’habitude) is a major theme both in Proust’s writing and in Proust’s philosophical context and education. This chapter explains the former by means of the latter. In doing so, it attempts to give habit the recognition it deserves, but which it has not generally received, in philosophical discussions of Proust. Proust was taught about habit as a major theme in the history of philosophy – one that had appeared, among others, in Plato and Aristotle, in Descartes, Locke and Hume, and in studies by contemporary French authors, including some of his teachers. In simple terms, habit was theorised in terms of two basic models, one for sensations and the other for skills or activities – both play a role in Proust’s writing. After spelling out these models and the roles of habit in the narrative structure of Proust’s great novel, the chapter focuses on its theoretical function in three domains, all of which relate in some way to the Proustian self: the self’s relation to the external world; love and grief; and, finally, the self outside time. Habit, properly understood, is intrinsically linked to each of these central Proustian concerns.

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