That involuntary apparition of long forgotten memories, triggered by the sensory experience of the tea and petites madeleines, illustrates the intangible, trickster nature of memory and the strength of an impression—visceral, sensory, overwhelming, and unexpected. Involuntary associations triggered by the cake surprise the narrator and then slip away. By the third bite, his thoughts are muddied and unclear. Based in feeling rather than cognition, such fleeting impressions spark deeper reflections. Do you know the feeling? That flash of an instinct that something is familiar, followed immediately by the realization that you have forgotten what was so familiar about it?
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