'Nous aimons les spectacles exotiques': Queerness, Jewishness, and the Performance of Normality in Proust's Recherche

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The nexus between Jewishness, queerness, and performativity runs throughout Marcel Proust's A la recherche du temps perdu (1913–27). I argue that by foregrounding the theatricality of Jewishness and queerness, Proust reveals their social construction. In doing so, he destabilizes the concept of normality, exposing its factitiousness in a seemingly reformed society still dominated by exclusionary dictates. Examining instances of spectacle and unmasking, I demonstrate how the failure of the performance of normality challenges its myth of naturality. Proust's use of a dramatic lexicon to deconstruct identity offers a powerful response to the budding discourse of French fascism.