The Proust Effect: The Senses as Doorways to Lost Memories

Oxford University Press (2014)
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Abstract

The senses can be powerful triggers for memories of our past, eliciting a range of both positive and negative emotions. In this book we explore what is so special about sense memories, how they work in the brain, how they can enrich our daily life, and even how they can help those suffering from problems involving memory

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Reprint years

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9780199685875   0199685878
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The Proust effect

The French author Marcel Proust (1871-1922) explored and reflected on the nature of sense memories in his work in In Search of Lost Time (À la recherche du temps perdu). In his view, sensory stimulations unlock lost memories, bring happiness and fuel creativity. He described how the senses... see more

The power of fragrances

Before Proust, descriptions of smell memories had already figured in French literature since the beginning of the nineteenth century, for example in the works of Charles Baudelaire, George Sand, Gustave Flaubert, and still figures in contemporary fiction works such as Perfume by Patrick Sü... see more

The hippocampus of Proust

The Proust effect is found to occur gradually, and largely outside the conscious mind, especially in the implicit memory systems. A Proust effect involves activity in many areas of the brain. Three crucial areas of the brain have a clear function: the hippocampus collects memory pathways i... see more

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How literature expands your imagination.Antonia Peacocke - 2020 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 103 (2):298-319.

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