The Dual Nature of Love Anonymous

The classical love story, the timeless tale of pairs whose only destinies are to be together, is an abhorred notion to Proust in In Search of Lost Time. Love stories in this Roman-fleuve are not be all, end all events; rather, they are temporary and all-too-human episodes. It is the dream of many little girls to meet their respective Prince Charmings, idealized men who will whisk them away to spectacular weddings in a carriage drawn by the most majestic stallions; and vice-versa, men hold their own romanticized conceptions of true love. Perhaps the beauty of Proust's literature is that he captures the realism of life. The dismal truth of life is that many people do not live the classical love story. Love is as episodic as Proust writes it to be, and consequently results in perpetual emotional turmoil. Proustian love is a never-ending quest driven by the desire of both carnal pleasure and emotional satisfaction; Proustian love, like many themes in In Search of Lost Time, involves a juxtaposition of both natural science and psychology.

Proust wrote In Search of Lost Time during a period of rapid change in the scientific world. The advent of various mechanical inventions complemented the publication of new theories on bodily...