Abstract: Drawing upon the ideas developed by Roland Barthes in La Préparation du roman, this article reveals the Proustian anchoring of the main problem explored in this course: the conflict between short form and long form, novel and essay, book and album. A second theme is highlighted: the theme of mourning. For Proust and for Barthes, it is only after the loss of a loved one that the opposition between continuity and discontinuity takes on its full meaning.
