Philosophy As Fiction: Self, Deception, and Knowledge in Proust by Joshua Landy (Assistant Professor in the Department of French and Italian, Assistant Professor in the Department of French and Italian, Stanford University)
Philosophy as Fiction reconstructs Proust's powerful, coherent and original outlook on knowledge, self-deception and self-fashioning. In addition, it explains why these ideas had to give rise to a work of art and not a philosophical treatise. Parts of the philosophy serve literary ends, with certain assertions forming part of the novel's intricate lace-work; and aspects of the aesthetics also serve philosophical ends, enabling a reader to engage in an active manner with an alternative art of living.