<p>How can Proust&rsquo;s <em>A la recherche du temps perdu</em> prompt us to re-imagine the cinema? Although no-one goes to the cinema in the novel, and its narrator is critical of a &lsquo;merely&rsquo; cinematographic account of reality, the proposition of <em>Thinking Cinema with Proust</em> is that the <em>Recherche</em> can provide a powerful catalyst for re-thinking the cinema, and that the &rsquo;structural absence&rsquo; of cinema from Proust&rsquo;s novel is rich in implications. Drawing on a complex terrain of intersections and overlaps between the experience of the spectator and that of Proust&rsquo;s narrator and reader, the book is focused around a series of motifs &ndash; reverie, the camera obscura, the magic lantern, projection, gesture and &lsquo;screen memory&rsquo; &ndash; which enable a fluid movement back and forth between Proust and film theory.</p><p>Patrick ffrench is Professor of French at King&rsquo;s College London.</p>