Juan Benet and the French Nouveau Roman: A Contentious Connection Revisited

Abstract

The uniqueness of Juan Benet’s fiction has long been a truism in critical discussions on the Spanish author’s work. This article seeks to challenge the notion that Benet’s admittedly idiosyncratic style is without parallel by reevaluating the writer’s relationship with the French nouveau roman. The article begins by diagnosing in Benet’s theoretical work and in that of his French precursors a shared skepticism of humanist positivism and of the epistemological function of the written word before examining how this skepticism is manifested in Volveras a Region.