If not, then the universe has been brought into being by countless acts of observation, by all the observers who have ever existed, exist now, and will ever exist in the future. The worldly signs are the only ones capable of causing a kind of nervous exaltation, expressing the effect upon us of the persons who are capable of producing them. Our culture's fascination with the charismatic individual means our most popular figures are those who emit the worldly signs across the board. If they are artists too, then the art is always shallow, secondary to the personality. Worldly signs constitute postmodern art.
Love is what makes the difference in Proust's novel.
When Marcel is in love, or sees love taking its course when Swann falls for the coquettish Odette, the worldly signs begin to unravel. The scene in Hades in Odyssey XI where Odysseus tells Achilles of the extraordinary nervousness inside the Trojan Horse. Except for Achilles' own son Neoptolemus, who cannot wait to attack. Arturo Toscanini died of a stroke. Guido Cantelli died in a car crash.