Phénomènes énonciatifs et localisations spatio-temporelles dans Du Côté de chez Swann

Abstract

The autobiographical discourse distinguishes two enunciative levels: the self of the narrator and the self of the character. This paper analyses the referential and enunciative spatio-temporal deictics in Proust’s fiction. At the narratorial level, deictics refer to the narrator’s present time and they organize both the story and the narration. From the character’s enunciative level, they grant access to his conscience by means of reported speech and non-verbalized thoughts. Deictical references also appear in the story in sentences with a third person subject creating an empathy with it. Furthermore there is a narrative use of deictics, particularly of maintenant.