Kirjahaku

Donald R. Maxwell analyzes the concepts of time, memory, self, and thought in Proust's " la recherche du temps perdu" and in the philosophy of Henri Bergson. Dr. Maxwell introduces the digital-analogic opposition (abacus and rainbow) that permeates Bergson's philosophy. Bergson's analysis of memory is distinct from Proust's, but resembles that of contemporary neurophysiology. He specifies two aspects of being, as well as the twinning of self in memory, which are both present throughout Proust's great novel. While Bergson uses linguistic imagery to communicate his philosophy, Proust's use of language is more to suggest, evoke, and create. Both Bergson and Proust describe the process of artistic creation in related yet contrasting ways. Dr. Maxwell provides new insight into the origins of the similarities between Bergson's philosophy and elements of the Proustian universe."

Donald R. Maxwell discusses the differences and similarities in the cultures and disciplines of literature and science, the origin of this dichotomy, the distinction in the use of language, and the differences in the practice of the two cultures. As distinct from literature, the physical sciences are empirical and concern truths that cannot be deduced intuitively. Science, not literature, is cumulative, predictive, and reproducible and its language is transparent and unambiguous. Literature attempts to give utterance to the ineffable and uses ambiguity, metaphor, and the evocation of memory to create new and wonderful worlds. Science discovers that which already exists while literature creates that which might never exist. These differences are illustrated by the writings of Marcel Proust, Henri Bergson, and others.