An essay is presented on the death of French novelist Marcel Proust and the way in which he demonstrated the mortification of the object. The essay offers information about the obsessive list-keeping the author engaged in during his life and the way in which those lists are what remains of Proust. The essay continues to discuss a photograph of Proust on his deathbed that was taken by photographer Man Ray and compares it to a deathbed photograph of French novelist Victor Hugo.