This volume of essays which is dedicated to the late Richard Bales one of the doyens of
Proust studies considers Proust's pivotal role at the threshold of modernity between
nineteenth- and twentieth-century forms of writing and thinking between the Belle Epoque and
the First World War between tradition and innovation. More than just a temporal concept this
threshold is theorized in the volume as a liminal space where borders (geographical artistic
personal) dissolve where greater possibilities for artistic dialogue emerge and where
unexpected encounters (between artists genres and disciplines) take place. Working both
backwards and forwards from the publication dates of A la recherche du temps perdu (1913-27)
the seventeen essays written specially for this volume take as their focus Proust's manifold
engagements with the world of modernity as well as intermedial relations among the generations
of artists before and immediately after him. Looking back to the nineteenth century the
undisputed starting point for nascent forms of modernity in Western art and literature and a
period that was uniquely formative for the young Proust they also offer insights into
inter-artistic dialogue in Surrealist and post-Surrealist painting and poetry.
