本論文旨在探索馬賽爾．普魯斯特於《在斯萬家那邊》和《女囚》中凡德伊的虛構音樂。評論家們一直以來對於神秘的音樂家凡德伊爭論不休, 於此同時也要有越來越多的學者們投入文學與音樂間的跨界領域。為了尋找誰是凡德伊，本論文追朔普魯斯特當代的藝術流派。我認為普魯斯特相信不同形式的藝術—音樂、繪畫、文學—會彼此表述並互相深化其意涵。本論文由三個章節組成:
第一章研究斯萬邂逅凡德伊奏鳴曲時的圖像音樂隱喻。我認為該圖像音樂隱喻在一個廣泛和朦朧的意象上呼應了印象派繪畫與浪漫時期音樂。普魯斯特的圖像音樂隱喻建構於一個時空體，並以印象畫派的結構來傳達音樂的結構。普魯斯特在一封信件中指出凡德伊的音樂的構想是受到一群音樂家的啟發:佛瑞、聖桑、華格納、舒伯特及法朗克。因為普魯斯特在形形色色氣韻獨殊的音樂家的影響下創造了凡德伊的音樂，我斷言牛頭不對馬嘴的的音樂隱喻是無可避免的。
第二章檢驗兩部小說中的多個音樂隱喻。為了驗證第一章的假說，我以前後不一的音樂隱喻的例子來支持我的論點。普魯斯特將凡德伊的音樂描繪為語言中的不同腔調和素昧平生的女人，並將聽覺主體斯萬比喻為獨角獸。普魯斯特賦予了這些音樂隱喻抽象與奇幻的精神。我認為部分音樂的描寫對應到超脫浪漫樂派的音樂型式。
第三章談論普魯斯特的音樂品味及對藝術的觀點。我認為前後不一的音樂隱喻是由於普魯斯特對絕對音樂的擁戴。本章講述絕對音樂的概念並以普魯斯特在小說中對其他音樂家的見解作為論點的佐證。最後，我指出普魯斯特透過角色們傳達出多重的藝術觀。對於凡德伊而言，音樂是更真實的現實世界的表徵。之於斯萬，音樂如酒神式的—感官的並且依附於愛情的感覺。而對於馬賽爾，音樂的邂逅是叔本華式的—既投射了超驗主義的意志也反映了個人意志。

This thesis aims to explore the fictive music of Vinteuil in Marcel Proust’s Swann’s Way and The Captive. Critics had been debating about the mysterious fictive musician Vinteuil, while more and more scholars had been stepping into the interdisciplinary field between literature and music. To find out who the fictive musician Vinteuil is, the thesis traces back the movement of art in Proust’s contemporary. I suggest that Proust believes that different forms of art— music, painting, and literature— express and deepen the portrayal of meaning for each other. The thesis consists of three chapters:
Chapter one studies the pictorial musical metaphor when Swann encounters with Vinteuil’s sonata. I argue that the pictorial musical metaphor corresponds to Impressionist painting and Romantic music in a broad and vogue sense. Proust’s pictorial musical metaphor constructs a space-time, conveying the structure of music through that of an impressionistic painting. Proust indicates in a letter that the idea of Vinteuil’s music was inspired by a group of musicians: Fauré, Saint-Saëns, Wagner, Schubert, and Franck. Since Proust creates Vinteuil’s music under the impact of diversify idiosyncratic musicians, I assume the incongruous musical metaphors are inevitable.
Chapter two examines various musical metaphors in both the two volumes. To prove my assumption in the first chapter, I support the argument with the instances of incongruous musical metaphors. Proust depicts Vinteuil's music as the different accent of language and the unknown woman, comparing the listening subject Swann to the unicorn. These metaphors are examined from the perspective tradition of musical metaphors. Proust grants the musical metaphor the spirits of abstraction and fantasy. I suggest that some of the musical descriptions correspond to after music type beyond Romantic.
Chapter three addresses Proust’s taste of music and the perspective of art. I argue that the incongruous musical metaphors are due to Proust’s allegiance of absolute music. This chapter elaborates on the concept of absolute music and supports the argument with Proust’s opinions about other musicians being mentioned in the novels. Finally, I point out that Proust expresses the multiple views of art through the characters. For Vinteuil, music represents a truer reality. For Swann, music is Dionysian, sensuous and attached to the feelings of love. For Marcel, the encounter with music is Schopenhauerian, projecting both the transcendental and personal Will.

Acquisto, Joseph. Proust, Music, and Meaning: Theories and Practices of Listening in the Recherché. Vermont: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. Print.
Adelson, Dorothy. "The Vinteuil sonata." Music and Letters 23.3 (1942): 228-233. Print.
Balsamo, Gain. “The Fiction of Marcel Proust’s Autobiography.” English and Comparative Literature (2007) 28.4:577-606. Print.
Brown, Marshall. The Tooth that Nibbles at the Soul: Essays on Music and Poetry. USA: University of Washington Press, 2010. Print.
Cogman, P.W.M. “Reading a Painting by Elister: Fanciful Descriptions in Proust and some Baroque Poets.”French Studies 30.4 (1976):419-432. Print.
Compagnon, Antoine. Proust: Between Two Centuries. Trans. Richard. R. Goodkin. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992. Print.
Cottinhum, John, et al., ed. Western Philosophy: An Anthology. 2ed. Ed. Malden: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2008, Print.
Dahlhaus, Charl. Between Romanticism and Modernity: Four Studies in the Music of the Later Nineteenth Century. London: University of California Press, 1978. Print.
---. The Idea of Absolute Music. London: The University of Chicago Press, 1978. Print.
Davies, Stephen. “Emotions Expressed and Aroused by Music: Philosophical Perspectives.” Hand Book of Music and Emotion: Theory, Research, Application, Ed. Patrick N. Justin. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. 1-15. Print.
Deleuze, Gilles. Proust and Signs. Trans. Richard Howard. 1964. New York: Continuum, 2008. Print.
---. Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensations. Trans. Daniel W. Smith. New York: Continuum, 2003.
Donnellon, Deidre. “French Music since Berlioz: Issues and Debates.” French Music since Berlioz, Ed. Richard Langham Smith and Caroline Potter. New York: Ashgate Publishing, 2006. Print.
Duffy, John J. “Objective Correlative: A New England Commonplace.” The New England Quarterly 42.1 (1969): 108-115. Print.
Dyan, Peter. Music Writing Literature, from Sandvia Debussy to Derrida. Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2006. Print.
Gorlinski, Virginia, ed. "Unicorn." Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2018, May 24th. /www.britannica.com/topic/unicorn/ Accessed, July 1st, 2019. Web.
Karpeles, Eric. Paintings in Proust: A visual companion to ‘In Search of Lost Time.’ London: Thames and Hudson, 2008. Print.
Kul-Want, Christopher. Ed. Philosophers on Art from Kant to Postmodernism: A Critical Reader. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013. Print.
Larkin, Áine “Unsettling Scores: Proust and Music.” Romantic Studies 33.2 (2014): 71-74. Print.
MacDuff, Sangam. “Joyce’s Transcendental Aesthetics of Epiphany.” SPELL: Swiss Papers in English and Literature 30 (2014):143-160. Print.
Matz, Jesse. Literary Impressionism and Modernist Aesthetics. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Print.
Meyers, Jeffery. “Proust’s Aesthetic Analogies: Character and Painting in Swann’s Way.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 30.3 (1972): 377-388. Print.
Michałowski, Kornel. et al. "Chopin, Fryderyk Franciszek." Grove Music Online. . Oxford University Press. January 01, 2001, /0-www.oxfordmusiconline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000051099/, accessed 6 July, 2019. Web.
Millington, Barry, et al. "Wagner family." Grove Music Online: Oxford Music Online, January 1, 2002. Oxford University Press,/0-www.oxfordmusiconline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-5000905605/Accessed, 6 July, 2019. Web.
Mladen, Dolar. A Voice and Nothing More. Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2006. Print.
Morrison, Kevin A. “Myth, Remembrance, and Modernity: From Ruskin to Benjamin via Proust.” Comparative Literature (2008) 60.2: 125-141. Print.
Nancy, Jean-Luc. Listening. Trans. Charlotte Mandell. New York: Fordham University Press, 2007. Print.
Nattiez, Jean-Jacques. Proust as Musician. Trans. Derrick Puffett. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989. Print.
Nectoux, Jean-Michel. “Fauré, Gabriel. ” Grove Music Online : Oxford Music Online, January 20th, 2001, /doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.09366/ Accessed, Sep 10th, 2019. Web.
Newark, Cormac, and Ingrid Wassenaar. “Proust and Music: The Anxiety of Competence.” Cambridge opera Journal (1997): 163-183. Print.
Perly, Noami. “The Language of Unknown Country: Intratextuality in Proust’s In Search of Lost Time.” 19th-century Music (Fall 2012): 136-145. Print.
Perz, Chistal. "The Little-Konwn Tale of the Medieval Unicorn." The Iris: Behind the Scenes at the Getty, 2018, May 12th, /blogs.getty.edu/iris/the-little-known-tale-of-the-medieval-unicorn/ Accessed, 1 July, 2019. Web.
Proust, Marcel. In Search of Lost time: Swann’s Way. Trans. C.K. Scotte Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin. Vol.1. New York: The Modern Library, 2003. Print.
---. In Search of Lost Time: The Captive and The Fugitive. Trans. C.K. Scotte Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin. Vol.5. New York: The Modern Library, 2003. Print.
Rockmore, Tom. “Kant on Art and Truth after Plato.” Washington University Jurisprudence Review 6.1(2013): 45-58. Print.
Roche, A. J. “Proust as Translator of Ruskin.” Modern Language Association 45.4 (1930): 1214-1217. Print.
Rosen, Charles. Sonata Forms. New York: Norton, 1998. Print.
Rushworth, Jennifer. “Proust’s Notes to the Imaginary Music of Vinteuil: À la Recherché du Temps Perdu and the Programme Music Controversy.” Forum for the Modern Literature 48.1 (2012):30-45. Print.
Ruskin, John. Modern Painters. New York: Alfred A. Knopf Inc., 1987. Print.
Schapiro, Meyer. Impressionism: Reflections and Perceptions. New York: George Braziller, Inc. , 1997. Print.
Scruton, Roger. "Absolute Music. “Oxford Music Online: Grove Music Online, 2001, Jan.20th,/0-doi.org.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.00069/ Accessed, 1 July, 2019. Web.
Spitzer, Michael. Metaphor and Musical Thought. London: The University of Chicago, 2004. Print.
Tadié, Jean Yves. Marcel Proust: A Life. Trans. Euan Cameron. New York: Penguin Group, 2000. Print.
Topping, Margaret. Supernatural Proust: Myth and Metaphor in A la Recherché du Temps Perdu. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2007. Print.
Trippett, David. Wagner's Melodies: Aesthetics and Materialism in German Musical Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. Print.
Walker, Alan. "Liszt, Franz." Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press, 2001, January1st,/0-www.oxfordmusiconline.com.opac.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000048265>/ Accessed, July 1th, 2019. Web.
Young, Julian. Nietzsche’s Philosophy of Art. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Print.