Martin Hägglund Dying P r o u s t for W o o l f Time N a b o k o v Dying for Time Dying for Time Proust, Woolf, Nabokov Martin Hägglund Harvard University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England 2012 Copyright © 2012 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hägglund, Martin. Dying for time : Proust, Woolf, Nabokov / Martin Hägglund. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-674-06632-8 — ISBN 0-674-06632-4 1. Proust, Marcel, 1871–1922. À la recherche du temps perdu. 2. Woolf, Virginia, 1882–1941. Mrs. Dalloway. 3. Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1899-1977. Ada. 4. Time in literature. 5. Desire in literature. 6. Psychoanalysis and literature. I. Title. PQ2631.R63A8195 2012 843'.912— dc23 2012011489 For my beloved parents, Hans-Lennart and Margareta Hägglund Contents Introduction: Of Chronolibido 1 1. Memory: Proust 20 2. Trauma: Woolf 56 3. Writing: Nabokov 79 4. Reading: Freud, Lacan, Derrida 110 Conclusion: Binding Desire 146 Notes 169 Acknowledgments 189 Index 193 Dying for Time