“Et précisément à l'hôtel où j'avais rendez-vous": hotel figurations of Marcel Proust literary work

Abstract

This article studies the touristic appropriations of the figure of Proust set up in high-end hotel establishments. It highlights places, more or less directly linked to Proust's biography and work, through the proustian space of the room that the hotels contribute to construct as privileged. The analysis deals with the way in which the scenic and narrative devices implemented in these places construct effects of meaning and can generate an effect of verisimilitude disturbing both the scales of time (the Belle Époque and now) and of social context (tourism sector, literary field and world of museums), and the apprehension of a strict border between fictional illusion and reality (the work and the reference to the author).