Proustian

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Definitions

1. Of or pertaining to the French novelist Marcel Proust or his distinctive methods of psychological introspection and detailed memory exploration
2. Resembling the narrative style, philosophical concerns, or dense introspective quality exemplified by Proust's major works
3. Characterized by elaborate exploration of memory, consciousness, and sensory experience in the manner associated with Proust's literature

Etymology: Marcel Proust, the French novelist, gave his name to an adjective that describes a particular kind of memory: involuntary recall, where a sensory trigger suddenly brings back a vivid past experience. The best-known example comes from his novel "In Search of Lost Time", in which the taste of a madeleine dipped in tea unlocks a whole childhood world for the narrator. The word is formed in the most ordinary way. English took Proust's surname and added the suffix "-ian", the same ending found in words like "Shakespearean" or "Darwinian", which marks a thing associated with a named person. Nothing about the formation is unusual, and the word's interest lies entirely in the person behind it.