Abstract
In Paris Spleen: Little Poems in Prose (1869), precisely in “The Double Bedroom”, Charles Baudelaire related memory to time with bitter irony: “[...] Time has reappeared; Time reigns absolute now; and with that hideous old character has come his devilish retinue of Memories, Regrets, Convulsions, Fears, Anguish, Nightmare, Rage, Neurosis”. Some years later, with a speculative approach inspired by authors such as Baudelaire and Gérard de Nerval, Marcel Proust attached new possibilities of analysis to the theme of memory as time travel. In brazilian literature, influenced by the similarity of Baudelaire and Proust’s perspectives, Pedro Nava explored the idea of memory as creative and poetic mechanism. Comparing excerpts of Baudelaire, Proust and Nava’s works, this essay aims to examine the notion of evocative memory discussing this notion as essential part of the process of literary composition.
Keywords
Charles Baudelaire; Marcel Proust; Pedro Nava; poetic prose; memories