Profound Albertine

Abstract This chapter explores the meanings of the word angoisse (anguish, anxiety) in A la recherche du temps perdu. It is never welcome, always present. There is no life (and especially no love) without it. The chief emblem of angoisse is the narrator’s friend Albertine, who causes in him, because he cannot fully know her or control her, something like a permanent anxiety attack. Proust’s theory of love, like much of his thinking, is based on a blatant contradiction, both parts of which are true. Love can die, the person who meant the world to us can come to mean nothing. Love cannot die, it always has enough life in it to resurrect old, enduring pains and distresses.