French Writer Research Articles

You Are Standing in a Doorway: California, Fall 2020

You Are Standing in a Doorway: California, Fall 2020

«Je cherche l’Italie, ma patrie» : Giono lecteur de Virgile

In 1943, the publisher Corrêa commissioned Jean Giono to write the preface to a selection of translations of Virgil; he chose the entire Bucolics, extracts from the Georgics and the Aeneid. At this point in his life, the French writer was in the midst of questioning himself, and he was soon to commit his work to the tragic vein of his so-called ‘Stendhalian’ period. If Virgil was for Giono an initiator in his youth, he became during the Second World War a companion of joy and exile. He proved to be a peer in the realm of Belles Lettres, allowing him to devote himself to the exploration of his imagined Italy, that of his magnied grandfather, full of idealism but also of darkness. Giono’s ambition, at this time, was to be a living author singing the force of life, joyful and/or terrible, and Virgil becomes the very example of this program.

Reading Contemporary French Literature

This book focuses upon a dozen French writers who have helped to set the terms for contemporary French literature and its horizon of possibility. Though they have pursued significantly different paths, each one of them is committed to the principle of literary innovation, to making French literature new. They work in full cognizance of literary history and of the tradition that they inherit, even as they reshape that tradition in each of their books. They invite their readers to take a critical stance with regard to those books, and to participate actively in the construction of literary meaning. Both bold and mobile in their own practice, they encourage us to be just as agile in our own readerly practice, offering us a rare degree of franchise in a literary dynamic founded on the notion of articulation. Writers discussed include Raymond Queneau, Edmond Jabès, Georges Perec, Marcel Bénabou, Jacques Jouet, Marie NDiaye, Marie Cosnay, Bernard Noël, Jean Rolin, Jacques Serena, Julia Deck, and Christine Montalbetti.

Muhammed Said er-Reyhânî’nin “Yazarın Ölümü” Adlı Hikâye Koleksiyonunda Ölüm Teması

Modern Arap edebiyatı ile ilgili çalışmalarda Mısır, Suriye ve Irak edebi canlılığa ve ilmi kalkınmaya sahne olurken Fas edebiyatı yeni fikri akımlardan uzakta kalarak klasik Arap edebiyatına bağlı kalmıştır. Modern Fas edebiyatında Arap Edebiyatında ortaya çıkan ve gelişen yeni edebî türlerin geç başladığı görülür. Bunun sonucunda da yazarlar hata ve tecrübesizlik dolu bir süreçten geçerek, gerçek bir hikâye sanatına ulaşana kadar uzun zaman harcamalarına ve büyük mücadele vermelerine neden olmuştur. Fas’ta yeni hikâye 20. yüzyılın başlarında Ebû Şuayb ed-Dükâlî, İbn Şakrûn, Muhammed Gırrîd ve Muhammed Mûsâ gibi şahsiyetlerin makâme taklidi eserleriyle başlamıştır. Fas kısa öyküsünün gecikmesinde etken olarak birtakım faktörler bulunmaktadır. Fransız işgalinin, öykünün geç ortaya çıkmasında ve gelişmesinde büyük etkisi vardır. Faslı öykü yazarı Muhammed Said er-Reyhânî çeviri, iletişim ve gazetecilik alanında yüksek lisans derecesi, yazarlık alanında yüksek lisans derecesi ve İngiliz Edebiyatı alanında lisans derecesi almıştır. 2008'den beri "Fas Yazarlar Birliği" üyesidir. Reyhânî, Edebiyat konularında araştırmacı olmasının yanı sıra, yazarlık alanında da çalışmalar yapmıştır. Yazarın Ölümü adlı eseri daha önce kaleme almış olduğu Sabahı Beklerken ve Herhangi bir Yere Göç Mevsimi adlı öykü koleksiyonunun üçüncüsüdür. Eser 2010 yılında yayımlanmıştır. Yazar öykülerini oluştururken tek tek metinler olarak değil, bir hikâye grubu olarak yazmıştır. Diğer öykü koleksiyonunda bütün temaların aynı olduğu gibi bu koleksiyonundaki bütün hikâyelerinde tema aynıdır ve o da ölümdür. Reyhânî’nin Mevtü’l Müellif (Yazarın Ölümü) adlı bu eseri ölüm temasının farklı şekillerde ele alındığı on hikâye koleksiyonundan oluşan bir öykü kitabıdır. İlk olarak öykü koleksiyonu için bir başlık düşünen Reyhânî; bir çalışma alanı içinde yeniden üretilen tüm metinlerin bu başlıklarının etrafında toplandığı merkezi bir konu olduğunu ifade eder. Diğer koleksiyonlarında benimsediği bu tarz Yazarın Ölümü adlı bu öyküde de ana tema "son, ölüm ve kurtuluş" gibi başlıklar olarak görülmektedir. Yazar, Bir Umursamazlık Hâli öyküsünde güvenliğin ve dayanışmanın olmadığı toplumlarda ölümün istediğini, istediği zaman ve şekilde seçeceğini anlatır. Bütün Hayatımız Rahat İçin ve Bütün Ölümümüz Endişe İçin öyküsünde yaşam ve ölüm kavramlarını tersine çevirmiştir. Bir Zehirlenme Durumu zehirlenme ve ölümle cezalandırma hakkında kaleme aldığı öyküsüdür. Ölülerinizi Hayırla Anın öyküsünde zalim rejimde hükümdarın cenaze törenini anlatmıştır. Ölüm Döşeğinde öyküsünde ölümün son anlarını betimlemiştir. En Kötü Esirin En Kötü Sonu öyküsünde şerefli bir ölüm dersine ihtiyacı olan bir esirin, bütün onurunu kaybetmiş halde ölümü isteyecek kadar ölümün kendisi için yavaş olduğu durumu ele almıştır. Hayat Ölülerin İstediği Gibi, yazar bu öyküsünde insan yaşamındaki onurun eksenine ölümü koyar. İmparatorların Tarzında Ölüm öyküsünü intihar anındaki bir kişinin ölümünün hangi yolla olacağını seçimindeki düşünceleri ile oluşturmuştur. Beni Öldüren, Ben Hâlâ Hayattayım öyküsünde gerçekte yaşanmış bir olaydan hareketle siyâsî süikastın imkânsızlığını ortaya koymuştur. Yazarın Ölümü adlı öyküsünde Fransız yazar Barthes’in öykü anlayışından etkilenmiş olmasının sonucu olarak öyküden yazarı çekip okuyucuyu öykü ile baş başa bıraktığı bu son öyküsünde yazar gerçekten de ölmüştür ve yalnızca okur vardır.

Zašto je bugarska teza o makedonskom identitetu pogrešna?

Bulgarian theses that: Macedonians have Bulgarian roots, while the Macedonian language is a dialect of the Bulgarian language; and, that the Macedonian identity is a „product“ of the Comintern, ie., of Josiph Broz Tito and Josiph Visarionovic Stalin, are wrong. More historical facts show that the Macedonian and Bulgarian nations come from different origin, whose settled in the territory of today's Balkan Peninsula in different periods and from two different parts of the world. „Macedonians are the South Slavic people, ... descendants of the old Slavic tribes, who inhabited the Balkan Peninsula in the 6th and 7th centuries ...“, while the Bulgarians are the South Slavic people who inhabit the eastern part of the Balkans. Their origin is linked to Asia. Based on the data of ancient Chinese chronicles, it is considered that the language of the Proto-Bulgarians was part of the Altaic language community, i.e. its Turkish branch, which also included Huns, Avars, Hazars, Oguz, Pechenegs, Kumans and others“. As is already known, in the past members of today's Macedonian nation, „by force or kindness“, were presented as an integral part not only of the Bulgarian, but also of the Serbian and Greek nations. In the 19th century, like any other nation, Macedonians fought for their national rights, but for some reasons, they managed to realize their national aspirations until August 2, 1944. Macedonian language is similar to other Slavic languages and especially to the Bulgarian and Serbian languages, which belong to the so-called Indo-European language group. The Macedonian language was officially codified in 1945 and, like other languages, enjoys the same status in all international institutions, including the UN. That Macedonian identity and language are different from Bulgarian identity and language in the past has been confirmed by various personalities and documents, including by: Ambassador of Bulgaria in Tirana, Albania – Janko Peev (in 1938); French writer, publicist and politician Victor Berar; French university professor - Slavist Andre Mazon; and Albanian politician, diplomat and publicist Ekrem Bey Vlora. The above mentioned and many other authors speak in a clear way about the existence of the Macedonian identity and language, which is different from the Bulgarian identity and language. Therefore, it can be concluded from the above that the Bulgarian theses about the alleged common origin of Macedonians with Bulgarians are scientifically incorrect, and their insistence Macedonian side to accept the alleged „historical truth“, conditioning even the start of Northern Macedonia's EU membership negotiations, is more than absurd. In my opinion, the approach of the EU members that allowed such behaviour of Bulgarian politicians and any other EU member states at the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century is even more absurd. In other words, instead of EU members being consistent in applying their European values, regarding respect for the sovereign right of every nation on its national affiliation and instead insisting on respecting and implementing by the Bulgarian side numerous decisions of European institutions, recognizing the existence and rights of Macedonian minorities in Bulgaria, they allow current Bulgarian politicians to deal with absurd things, characteristic of the 19th century.

Saint-Saens Violin: Concerto No. 3

The present study discusses the Violin Concerto No. 3, in B minor, op. 61, by Camille Saint-Saëns, focusing on the first and second movements. The purpose is to help performers in their understanding of the concerto by providing context and an analysis of the composer’s musical style. Saint-Saëns was a prolific French composer, pianist, organist, and writer with a unique understanding of music. After the Franco-Prussian War in the 1870s, a movement to revive the tradition of national music emerged. In 1871, Saint-Saëns and his friends established the Société Nationale de Musique in Paris with the aim of introducing new French classical work and promoting the revival of the nation through art. One such piece was Saint-Saens’ own Third Violin Concerto. As well as providing the historical and cultural context to his composition, the present study examines the musical structure of the work and appropriate playing styles. The study of the literature and the analysis of the genealogical examples revealed that the structure of the work is classical in style and the tone is romantic.

Marcel Proust: In Search of Chemistry in His Work. The Author and His Great Chemical Novel

The article analyzes the use of chemistry as a means of communication and imagination in the writings of the famous French writer Marcel Proust (1871−1922). The oldest work in which Proust uses chemistry is the unfinished novel Jean Santeuil from 1895−1900. The author demonstrated a remarkable knowledge of the possibilities of analytical chemistry, including spectral analysis, and drew attention to the risk of morphine addiction. In a collection of texts Pastiches et mélanges from 1919, Proust describes the period Lemoine's affair with the alleged production of artificial diamonds (unrealizable at that time), in which the name of the French chemist and Nobelist Henri Moissan (1852−1907) also appeared. However, we find the greatest representation of chemistry in his life's work, the novel À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time). Proust – walking in the footsteps of Johann von Goethe – literally created a great chemical novel. First, we analyze the chemical nature of the so-called Proust phenomenon based on the sensory effect of substances on memory. We identify the volatile organic compounds that are responsible for the effect in the novel. Next, we note all references to chemistry and chemists as such, including alchemy. Third, we observe how the writer masterfully used chemical phenomena and concepts as a metaphorical means to express the feelings and motives of the actions of the novel's characters. Fourth, we provide an annotated overview of chemicals that are introduced in the novel as drugs: acetylsalicylic acid, aminophenazone, atropine, barbital, caffeine, quinine, cocaine, ethanol, morphine, opium, pepsin, phenol, trional, veronal. Proust's personal experience with them is demonstrated by the remarkable details about their effects mentioned in the novel. Finally, we mention the reception of Proust's work by chemists. In addition to reading for pleasure, Proust's work can also play an important communication and inspirational role in chemistry teaching in schools, as well as in the education of the public, and thus help to manage chemophobia. At the same time, it can further strengthen the identity of chemists as an essential part of human culture.

Subjectivity and Trauma in Early Modern French Mémoires

Abstract Focusing on accounts of the massacre of St Bartholomew’s Day and its aftermath found in early modern French writers of memoirs, most but not all Protestant, this article adopts a conceptual approach based on the work of Cathy Caruth to examine how the trauma of 24 August 1572 frames subjectivity in terms of the textualization of experience, external identification, and the imprint of history on the mind and sometimes on the body of the suffering victim. The article argues that such subjectivity occurs, not by absorbing the external into the self, but by the reverse process: assimilating the self to the larger framework of pain and suffering afforded by historical, political, and biblical models. It assesses the merits and drawbacks of Caruth’s theory of trauma and how successfully her approach invites us to revise our ideas of experience, selfhood, and personal witness in sixteenth-century French accounts of civil war.

Exhibition Review: The New Woman Behind the Camera

Exhibition Review: <i>The New Woman Behind the Camera</i>

After the Book, the Book? The Digital Writing Experiments of François Bon

While most commentators believe that the traditional print book will not be replaced by digital media, there has been considerable conjecture as to the possible effects on the forms of the book of so pervasive a revolution as has been ushered in by the digital revolution. One of the most sustained and searching investigation of these effects has been conducted by the French writer, François Bon. In his theoretical writings on the subject gathered in the book, Après le livre, Bon makes a strong case for the dependency of literary forms on the “material conditions of their enunciation.” Extrapolating from historical examples, he suggests that the book will accordingly undergo major, if yet unforeseen, transformations, while also arguing that it is urgent for writers to experiment with the possibilities generated by the material conditions brought about by the digital revolution, lest the field of possibilities be constrained by the commercial interests of the large technology companies. True to his sense of urgency, Bon himself has engaged in a number of experiments with the form of the book in the digital environment, most notably in his “novel” Tumulte, which consists of daily blog posts mixing fiction, memoir, criticism and other genres, and in a series of digital remediations of his early novel, Limite. While Bon’s experiments raise profound questions about the concept of the book, it is less certain whether they represent viable avenues for the book’s development, since their main appeal would arguably seem to be for scholars and theoreticians. With his concern with forms of organization and delivery, and ontological complexities arising from the multiple versions of the same or nearly the same text in a digital environment, Bon’s experiments seem necessarily to scant the power of concentrated prose that has been the principle means whereby books have conveyed thought and sustained intellectual culture.

“Channels of Interference”: Maurice Blanchot and Emil Cioran

Drawing on the concept of “literary interference” developed by the pioneer of polysystem theory, Itamar Even-Zohar, and expanded by other scholars, as well as on various interpretations of intertextuality, this article compares two twentieth century thinkers: the French writer, philosopher, and literary theorist Maurice Blanchot and the Romanian-born French essayist and philosopher Emil (E. M.) Cioran. The article uses Even-Zohar’s notion of “channel of interference,” and presents three such “channels” and their results that shed light on the relationship between Blanchot’s and Cioran’s works. The first “channel of interference” that I have termed the “change of epoch,” borrowing a phrase from Blanchot, led to their choice of fragmentary writing. The second, existentialism, might be able to bring their works together, especially through the way they treat the subject of suicide, focussing on Blanchot’s The Space of Literature and Cioran’s On the Heights of Despair. Finally, through the third “channel of interference,” the two thinkers’ scepticism, the article explores their engagement with the concepts of passion/passivity/patience.

“What the Mountain Taught Me This August”: René Daumal’s (Meta)physical Alpinism

French writer René Daumal’s (1908–1944) unfinished novel, Mount Analogue (Le Mont Analogue, 1952), tells of a group of mountaineers who set out to find an invisible mountain, the Analogue. All mountains have lost their analogical power, and thus a new mountain is needed. Daumal’s mountain serves a metaphysical goal and is linked to the desire for a change of consciousness, to be achieved through conquering the mountain. Even as a student, Daumal sought to expand his consciousness, not only through experimenting with drugs but also by means of sleep deprivation and somnambulism. In this regard, he was influenced by the Russian-Armenian esotericist George I. Gurdjieff (1866?–1949). Gurdjieff dealt with altered states of consciousness; he believed that the real world is hidden from us behind the wall of our imagination and that we therefore live a mechanical existence that we must break up by reaching our authentic selves. Mount Analogue is about this change of consciousness, and its ascent can be regarded as a metaphysical adventure. Daumal was also a passionate mountaineer who viewed mountains as a source of inspiration, stimulation, and physical adventure, but also as a place for recreation where he could rest his brain and heal his body, which was ill with tuberculosis. The idea for Mount Analogue came to him during a stay in the Alps in 1937. This contribution traces the genesis of Mount Analogue as an interplay between a physical and a metaphysical adventure.

From Menstruation to the Menopause: The Female Fertility Cycle in Contemporary Women’s Writing in French. By Maria Kathryn Tomlinson

<i>From Menstruation to the Menopause: The Female Fertility Cycle in Contemporary Women’s Writing in French.</i> By Maria Kathryn Tomlinson

Exil et reconstruction identitaire dans les romans de Maryam Madjidi (Marx et la poupée) et Negar Djavadi (Désorientale)

The article is an analysis of the problem of identity present in two novels by French writers of Iranian origin : Marx et la poupée [Marx and the Doll] by Maryam Madjidi and Désorientale [Disoriental] by Negar Djavadi. The issue of exile and the reconstruction of identity in the context of immigration is illustrated on the basis of Fernando Ortiz's theory "deculturation, acculturation, transculturation". The subject of research is also the intercultural dialogue, which applies to the form of the analysed novel.

Arts of Healing: Cultural Narratives of Trauma

Arts of Healing: Cultural Narratives of Trauma

Nel mezzo: Roland Barthes’s Mediated Dante and Dantean Figures of Mediation

ABSTRACT In this essay, I consider the reception of Dante by the twentieth-century French theorist and writer Roland Barthes. Barthes did not otherwise evince much interest in Italian literature, in poetry, nor indeed in the Middle Ages. Dante is therefore exceptional in Barthes’s writings, and present particularly in the late Barthes and in texts written after the death of Barthes’s mother. Most striking is Barthes’s expressed intention around this time to write a novel that would bear the same title as Dante’s youthful prosimetrum: Vita Nova. I reflect on why Barthes should have turned to Dante at this point, thinking especially about the mediators between the two, including critics (Jean-Michel Gardair) and translators (Alexandre Masseron, André Pézard). More generally, I also examine figures of mediation within Dante’s own work, in particular the guide figure, the book-as-guide, and the screen lady, the first two of which were admired by Barthes.

MATRICIDAL VOLITION AND SELF-SHAPING UNDER THE BONDAGE OF KINDSHIP ETHICS –ON JEAN’S ORESTES COMPLEX IN VIPER IN THE FIST

As the “negative Oedipus Complex”, the Orestes Complex is little known. Orestes’s matricide is not only the opposition of Oedipus’s mother fixation, but also reflects the reflection and transcendence of Oedipus complex. On the basis of tracing the origin of Orestes Complex, this paper takes the autobiographical novel Viper in the Fist by French writer Hervé Bazin as an example to demonstrate As the “negative Oedipus Complex”, the Orestes Complex is little known. Orestes’s matricide is not only the opposition of Oedipus’s mother fixation, but also reflects the reflection and transcendence of Oedipus complex. On the basis of tracing the origin of Orestes Complex, this paper takes the autobiographical novel Viper in the Fist by French writer Hervé Bazin as an example to demonstrate

The Writer and Existentialism: Fiction as a means of expressing existential ideas

The article examines the existential paradigm in fiction through the prism of the literary theory of the French philosopher and writer Jean-Paul Sartre. The author explores the relationship between the writer and the reader in their social context. It is argued that the task of a literary critic is mainly to study the writer's technique. The task of a philosophical critic can be defined as the study of the metaphysics of a writer. Writers need the freedom of the reader for their work to exist authentically. Without this, they will cease to exist as authors, and their works will be in obscurity. Literature is an ideal means for both the writer and the reader to realize their own freedom and each other's freedom.  The author of the article comes to the conclusion that Sartre's ideas are still relevant today. As the concepts of nationality and belonging are being revised and changed, the process of globalization is underway, Sartre's theories allow critics to contextualize writers beyond such obvious boundaries. Today it seems interesting to find out whether Sartre's ideas about existentialism and literature can be applied to writers and their work in such a way that the "critic" can analyze both the metaphysics of the novelist and his artistic technique, and, moreover, assess his role in society and beyond. In the light of Sartre's theories, literature is the most appropriate way by which a person can realize and change society. The theories of literature and existentialism of Jean Paul Sartre can be applied to identify and analyze existential concepts in a wide variety of works of fiction, including retrospectively, which is demonstrated in this article by the example of Russian writers – M. Y. Lermontov and F. M. Dostoevsky.

Contemporary French-Australian Travel Writing: Transnational Memoirs by Patricia Gotlib and Emmanuelle Ferrieux

This article focuses on the portrayal of Australia by two female French travel writers at the turn of the twenty-first century. Based upon Charles Forsdick’s theory of a set of uncertainties locatable in Francophone travel writing at the fin de siècle, this article analyzes how such uncertainties are played out in an Australian setting. It argues that while these texts ostensibly exoticize Australia in stereotypical manners, they gradually complicate these views, especially through their representation of rural Australia. Both writers find in rural Australia the means of recovery from the trauma that has spurred them to travel, which they locate in fast-paced, urban European life. Yet their texts are not simple celebrations of Australia as a site of return to simpler or “primitive” lifestyles, as they uncover links between supposedly exotic Australia and long-repressed aspects of their home cultures.

ARTISTIC AND STYLISTIC FEATURES OF THE WORKS OF PATRICK MODIANO

Almost all the works of the contemporary French writer Patrick Modiano, starting with his first novel "The Square of the Star", are built around two main themes: the search for identity and the period of the German occupation of France. Two problems are closely connected with them, namely: memory as a synonym for the past and renunciation of oblivion.