Asked • 04/12/19

What is "Protean Ubiquity" in Proust's "Swann's Way"?

I have started reading Proust's Swann's way. On page 66, after providing a very vivid description of aunt Leonie's house and its atmosphere, describes her state. She has gradually left the outside world for her own house. Then he writes about her attitude towards her sensations: > in the life of complete inertia which she led, she attached to the least of her sensations an extraordinary importance, endowed them with a **Protean ubiquity** which made it difficult for her to keep them to herself,... As I understand, 'Protean' refers to something that changes very much and 'ubiquitous' refers to ever-presentness. These two words seem to have meaning which feel opposite to each other. I cannot make sense of "Protean ubiquity", and what meaning is there in this sentence. I wonder, if somebody can help me in this. Thank you.

Christopher F.

tutor
It's not easy to answer the question of what "Protean ubiquity" is, or means, because the phrase isn't Proust's. It's a translation, found in the C. K. Scott Moncrieff version of the Combray section of "Swann's Way" (Remembrance of Things Past). The word that Proust actually used was "motilité" - which is a term generally applied in a biological context. It's a term that applies to the "ability of an organism to move independently, using metabolic energy. This is in contrast to mobility, which describes the ability of an object to be moved." As I see it, Proust's description of aunt Leonie's state - has a "metabolic," quality -- in its shifting from "absolute inertia" to an alternate full of independent energy, with full "motility" of sensations, to each of which, aunt Leonie ascribed "extraordinary" importance." The English translation of the French "motilité" doesn't seem entirely right, and who knows exactly what translator Moncrieff had in mind? Had he by chance at first thought of a "protozoan motility" - but wished the phrase to sound less explicitly biological and more poetic - especially given the fact that aunt Leonie ascribed to her "least sensations an extraordinary importance"? And because her sensations had for aunt Leonie (I'm paraphrasing here) a kind of protozoan motility, they were, for this reason, difficult to remain silent about. Now aunt Leonie's behavior is all very strange and neurotic and at the same time very personal and real, like so much in Proust. As Proust makes clear, Aunt Leonie would try to remain silent, but apparently she also felt that she needed to speak at times, as this would help the circulation of blood in her throat, and she would hence be able to control her coughing better. So "Protean ubiquity" is one way, perhaps less than ideal, given that it's not really faithful to the original phrasing, to describe all the seemingly metabolically-charged energy expended by aunt Leonie in her effort to live as she thinks she must - modulating inertia with motility. This is just a bit of guesswork on my part about the phrase and the passage under scrutiny here. I wonder what Proust or Moncrieff would say. Thanks to the questioner for offering up such an interesting puzzle, to which I suggest there can be no conclusive response. Of course one can decide that the exact meaning of a translated phrase must always refer back to the original wording. So the best tactic for this questioner would be to return to Proust's original term, "motilité" (literally, "motility"), and attempt to parse Prout's meaning based on that.
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04/18/19

Andy A.

I’m also reading it in the English translation. I don’t know very much French but I know biology. Many microorganisms, like protozoa, have a little hairs that they waive for motility. And these micros occur in almost all waters - they are indeed ubiquitous. Protists are considered animals, which have motility, compared to plants which do not move freely. So to me the character who although mostly immobile, endowed her beliefs the ability to roam by muttering them over and over, works as a mental image.
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07/18/21

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Yannick N. answered • 10/31/19

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Hello,

 

In the French original version of Swann’s Way (Du côté de chez Swann, in French), the term used by Proust is "motilité" which indeed translates to “protean ubiquity”. See below:


« […] puis, dans l’inertie absolu où elle vivait, elle prêtait à ses moindres sensations une importance extraordinaire ; elle les douait d’une motilité qui lui rendait difficile de les garder pour elle, et à défaut de confident à qui les communiquer, elle se les annonçait à elle-même, en un perpétuel monologue qui était sa seule forme d’activité. »

 

“Motilité” is a term used exclusively for physiology (the functioning of the body, organs...) and biology (cells) to characterize the notion of movement: the body’s faculties or parts of the body that “move”, or how the body changes its physical state.

 

Aunt Leonie is a complex character that is able to confer her emotions and feelings through a variety of physical aptitudes, forms and complex expressions (the use of the verb "douer" (here conjugated with the imperfect tense = douait) gives the idea of her capabilities.

Proust shows the contrast between his character and her living environment. We can say that aunt Leonie shows in different ways, that she is alive, but in an “extinct environment” (which is not to say “lifeless”), however. The use of the term "inertie" reflects this idea of a state where there is no change. Maybe the key for solving your question lies there.

 

I hope my explanation helps.


Yannick

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