Abstract
Even if John Ruskin wanted to find in works of art a moral and spiritual value capable of elevating the soul, there is in him a valorization of sensation as such, which explains Marcel Proust's interest in his thought. However, Ruskin's idea that the literary text is the receptacle of a revealed truth, to the height of which the reader must rise by annihilating his or her own personality, still remains, and here the difference with Proust is notable.
For the French writer, it's less a question of understanding a text, as Ruskin thought, than of letting the text act within us. Reading is a process of self-construction, with the text as a catalyst or external adjuvant. The work does not propose a world different from our own, as is commonly believed, but a different vision. The work calls on us to convert our gaze, to see as the painter or writer sees.
The value of a book cannot be assimilated as such, as the direct communication of knowledge from author to reader. On the contrary, the reader must feel a sense of lack. Reading is fundamentally disappointing, and this disappointment is the starting point for good reading. From this point of view, Proust's position is close to that of his contemporary Paul Valéry, who formulates a radical break between author, text and reader.
