Repetion In In Searach Of Lost Time

In Search of Lost Time is usually considered one of the first classic novels of the Stream-of-Consciousness writing. It departs the convention that novels are constructed according to the logical order of the plot and instead, uses "consciousness" as the center of the novel to hold the whole story together, enabling the novel to transfer in time and space freely and marvelously. However, as one of the longest Stream-of-Consciousness novels, In Search of Lost Time is not as unconstrained and free as those novels usually are, but rather meticulously organized. Proust himself was so proud of the feature that he compared it to the structure of church. In order to achieve the structure, Proust, who was so deeply influenced by Classicalism, can be perceived as inaugurating new writing techniques, but he can also be as epitomizing the past ones. In Search of Lost Time shows the obsession Proust has with repetition. The technique of repetition is not rare in literature; otherwise, it is widely used. It represents itself in dramas, poetics and novels, etc. There is not only verbatim repetition, but also various other types. Events, narrations, scenes, themes, settings and so on, they all can be repeated again and again. What’s more, repetition can appear in diverse forms, one differentiates a lot from another. Repetitive narration is considered as a matter of frequency in narratology, involving determining of the relation of the length of times in narrative and in actual events in the story. Proust makes spectacularly brilliant use of a wide range of repetitive devices to establish unity and order regarding to the content and structure, which is quite unusual in Stream-of-Consciousness Novels. Multiple motifs are repeated at the same time, for it can help not only to define the themes but also to enrich the text and its meaning. The use of Parallel Narrative skill secured the "church structure" in the novel. Not just the whole plot but the morphological forms of the stories of the leading characters in In Search of Lost Time show this feature. Proust connects Homosexuality with Type Scene, the use of which dexterously reveals the secrets of homosexuality, delicately analyzing the special love which was not accepted by the society at that time. The assimilation in various characters and repetition techniques used in characterization mold different characters into a common refraction of the groups they belong to, so that it can portrait a vivid picture to show how their disposition manifests in daily life. Proust is wont to abstract the common characteristic out of different people, and also very skillful to repetitively use a peculiar technique to characterize it. Repetitive narration, derived from the tradition, is frequently applied into In Search of Lost Time, so that the content itself acquires the ability to repeat itself without the second narration. This effect is achieved by the regular insertion of frequency adverbs and his choice of syntactic tense. Besides this, even in those obvious single narrative circumstances, Proust is always tries to create a repetitive effect by abstraction and synthesis of them. The repetitive pattern in aesthetic experience conveys the pursuit and cognition of Beauty by an extremely sensitive and thoughtful genius. The path of the aesthetic experience contains the steps of anticipation, exposure to the Beauty, disappointment, recapture and recognition. Those steps inspire the readers to a fantastic way towards Beauty and also to an access of searching for Beauty. The magnificent using of repetition enables In Search of Lost Time to find a distinctive way to build its structure. Among the mist of flowing and disorganized "consciousness", there still stands the consolidating foundation coordinated by the intricate parts in the novel.