Marcel Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time”: Aside from “lost time,” the “episode of the madeleine" is consistent with the author’s multiple personality

In a past post, I pointed out that persons with multiple personality typically have memory gaps (one personality’s amnesia for the period of time that another personality has been out and in control), and that they often refer to their memory gaps as “losing time” (so that the title of Proust’s book flags his multiple personality).

I should also point out that the famous “episode of the madeleine” is consistent with multiple personality, since it illustrates how one typically prompts a switch from one personality to another.

The basic principle is this: If you want to prompt a switch to a specific alternate personality, introduce something that is particularly relevant to that alternate personality. For example, suppose, in my discussion of memory gaps with a woman, her regular, “host” personality tells me that she had once found a new green coat in her closet, but had no memory of how it got there. The host’s typical attitude has been to ignore the coat (since one personalty typically ignores another personality’s business). But if I insist on discussing the coat, and if I persist in discussing it with her, even though I see that the discussion is making her increasingly uncomfortable, at some point I will see a sudden change in her demeanor (a sign of a personality switch), and the alternate personality related to that coat will be happy to tell me all about how she got the coat, for which that alternate personality has complete memory.