Le dédoublement réaliste-minimaliste des récits contemporains français : Le cas de Je m’en vais de Jean Echenoz et de Fuir de Jean-Philippe Toussaint

Abstract

In the mid- eighties, a number of contemporary French writers tried to renew the genre of French novel by a polyvalent stylistic revival. The critics had condemned the novel to death since it was drowned in theories and did not bring something new. The new generation put the emphasis on writing and ignored all other the theory- based approaches. Clearly, the critic started identifying the new phenomena and finally came up with the “minimalist” etiquette for writers of this clan. The novels of Jean Echenoz and Jean-Philippe Toussaint are remarkable examples of this literary movement since they draw all aspects of minimalist art in I’m Off (Je m’en vais) and Running away (Fuir). In this paper we will try to study the resemblances and the differences between minimalism and the important literary movement of the 19th century, realism. We will also spotlight the traces of realism in contemporary writings to point out the maintenance or the rejection of its components in new literary texts.