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The final chapter of the book departs from more traditional scenes of mourning such as the loss of the grandmother and Albertine, and proposes that the drame du coucher constitutes an Urszene of mourning that anticipates subsequent scenes of mourning as well as the very end of the Recherche. The chapter argues that while the necessity of creation and the joy of finding a way out of loss characterize Le Temps retrouvé, the narrator's first experience of loss, his own fear of death and guilty conscience towards the dead haunt these pages. In particular, it engages with Melanie Klein, Jacques Lacan, Julia Kristeva and Leo Bersani's emphasis on the darker facets of creation.

DOI: 10.1057/978-1-137-60073-8_4

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