Gardens in a Cup of Tea. Japanese Aspects in the Work of Proust; Muramatsu Kenjiro (translator)

peer reviewedMarcel Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time” is acknowledged as one of the masterpieces of French literature, but even to the Japanese reader the various allusions to Japan are rarely known. This paper wants to point out the importance of Japanese and East-Asian influences on Proust’s work, but also upon his life and thought. In his case these Japanese aspects seem to go much deeper than the superficial fashion of Japanism which influenced in the beginning of the 20th century not only numerous european aesthetes and writers, but also painters and composers. And reconsidered in this context, Proust’s work has to be appreciated as an important contribution to comparative thought and global philosophy