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V. On Possession - by jamie hood - regards, marcel

proustproject.substack.com · 4,156 words · saved by 1 readers

I am thinking lately of the word possession1: in the sense of ownership, yes, or of being possessive—that is, acting jealously in relation to other objects and people—but also of the word’s transportive (or worse—demonic2) meaning, the chance that an event, a thought, a passion, or an otherworldly presence might seize and requisition the mind, body, and emotional life of the subject. One might even say the swarm of involuntary memories summoned by the madeleine indicate an episode of possession: remembrance is for Proust a profoundly synesthetic and somatic process, one that displaces the subject from their present tense. Like other bodily dislodgements in the novel so far—bouts of insomnia, attacks of asthmatic breathing, the throes of desire—memory is an occupying force. If you’re reading along in Swann it likely won’t surprise you that I’m taken by this theme at this particular juncture of the novel: we’re deep in the thorny thick of Swann’s perfectly-crystallized interior novel(la)

V. On Possession ; or, 'something beautiful you can truly own' jamie hood Apr 30, 2023 18 7 Share I am thinking lately of the word possession 1 : in the sense of ownership, yes, or of being possessive —that is, acting jealously in relation to other objects and people—but also of the word’s transportive (or worse—demonic 2 ) meaning, the chance that an event, a thought, a passion, or an otherworldly presence might seize and requisition the mind, body, and emotional life of the subject. One might even say the swarm of involuntary memories summoned by the madeleine indicate an episode of possessi

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