Schreibarten, Lesarten, Denkarten

Abstract The entire corpus of Proust’s Recherche is permeated by philosophical digressions, reflections, aphorisms, dialogues and monologues. These are presented by a number of different and often divergent voices – that of the narrator who is the fictive author of the novel, that of the young Marcel on his long way to become this writer, those of many other figures, with whom Marcel interacts, that of the real author, who has permanently rewritten the text and finally the authority of the text as a whole. The interplay of these perspectives is an essential part of the drama the novel displays. Their contrast cannot, must not and should not be overcome in favour of an integrated and justified point of view of the kind professional philosophy is aiming at. Following this observation, the essay highlights a number of intertwined strands of philosophical motives in the Recherche in order to explore a basic relationship as well as tension between philosophy and literature. Proust’s novel – like other instances of literature and the arts – is not primarily made for a veridical but primarily for a processual thinking. It invites its readers to get involved and to linger in open ended mind games. Philosophising in and with the Recherche means doing philosophy without heading at a philosophy.