Aesthetic and Film History in Fanny Daubigny's Proust in Black: Los Angeles / A Prussian Fiction

by Janesa Brosnan, SDSU Press Editorial and Marketing Associate

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If you like deep dives into cinema, then Proust in Black: Los Angeles, a Proustian Fiction, is for you! Proust in Black blends art and scene. By merging the works of Marcel Proust with Film Noir against the backdrop of Los Angeles, Fanny Daubigny gives a fascinating tale and accomplished analysis.  Daubigny explains the relationship eloquently, “In Proust’s preference for a cinema of intimacy, there is otherwise the representation of an aesthetics of persistence of memory against oblivion…which indefatigably transforms the diverse into the same, the individual into the whole, and silence into noise.”(Daubigny 24)

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Dissecting and expanding our understanding of Proust, the author transforms and connects the themes of his work with LA film. Daubigny mainly focuses on A la recherche du temps perdu or In Search of Lost Time, with inclusions of his other works.

Fanny Daubigny

As someone who grew up around the Los Angeles film industry, I loved the inclusion of the scenes of LA in the films discussed in the book. It created an intimate understanding of Daubigny’s and Proust’s work as the dark mystery and reminiscence is also contained in L.A. nights.

Note this special, full-color volume comes in two paperback editions: A deluxe, archival paper, paperback edition ➡️ Proust color special edition https://amzn.to/4vISaOt | $28.95 + shipping

 

... and our Proust regular trade paperback ➡️ https://amzn.to/4mJAAWe |  $19.95 + shipping