Gilles Deleuze (1925-1995) was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris VII. He is a key figure in poststructuralism and one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century. In Proust and Signs, Deleuze explores the work of art. He approaches the narrative of Proust's masterpiece, A La Recherche du Temps Purdu, as the apprenticeship of a man of letters. his concern is to come to a deeper understanding of the book and of art itself by tracing the network of signs laid in the text. Admired at its original appearance as an imaginative and innovative study of Proust and as one of Deleuze's most accessible works, this book stands as the writer's most sustained attempt to understand and explain the work of art.

Translator's Note

Preface to the Complete Text

Preface to the 1972 Edition

Works by Proust

Part I: The Signs

1. The Types of Signs

2. Signs and Truth

3. Apprenticeship

4. Essence and the Signs of Art

5. Secondary Role of Memory

6. Series and Group

7. Pluralism in the System of Signs

Conclusion to Part I: The Image of Thought

Part II: The Literary Machine

8. Antilogos

9. Cells and Vessels

10. Levels of the Search

11. The Three Machines

12. Style

Conclusion to Part II: Presence and Function of Madness: The Spider

Notes

Gilles Deleuze was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris VIII.