Proust on theater: The fourth art in "A La Recherche du Temps Perdu"

Critical studies of the arts in Marcel Proust's La Recherche situate the text's many references to art works and artistic genius in a triadic structure of "the three arts": painting, music, and literature. Yet the theater and theatrical references reinforce many of the themes and signifying networks running throughout the text. Theater functions as an art form equivalent to Elstir's painting or Vinteuil's music, and Proust dramatizes in La Berma his crucial distinction between person and artist. In the social aspects of the actress's life, Proust constructs resonant parallels with the societal and familial conduct of his characters and their interactions, just as the brilliant theatrical performances of classical French dramatic roles onstage by La Berma essentialize the "mecanismes de la vie sociale" in the fictive world outside the theater. In short, theater functions crucially and continuously at all levels of the text, from basic components of story to meta-levels of discourse.