Abstract
‘From Marcel to Rrose Selavy’ explains how Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu brought a new vigour to the exploration of consciousness, sensation, and memory. The characters all flow out of the moi of the narrator himself, who becomes a super-character and the repository of the entire world that he recounts. The importance of the imagination in the work of André Breton, leader of the Surrealists, is examined. In both Proust and Breton can be seen a fascination with the everyday world and a greater inclusiveness in what can be deemed worthy of description and narration.
