Aphorism in the Francophone Novel of the Twentieth Century PDF
Preview Aphorism in the Francophone Novel of the Twentieth Century
Aphorism in the Francophone Novel of the Twentieth Century In this exploration of twentieth-century novels written in French, Mark Bell defines aphorism as a literary genre and demonstrates how it is used in seven texts that provide a cross-section of ideo- logical stances and francophone communities. Aphorism in the Francophone Novel of the Twentieth Century includes critical readings of Terre des hommes by Antoine de Saint- Exupery, Alexandre Chenevert by Gabrielle Roy Gouverneurs de la rosee by Jacques Roumain, Pluie et vent sur Telumee miracle by Simone Schwarz-Bart, La route des Flandres by Claude Simon, Presence de la mort by C.F. Ramuz, and Neige noire by Hubert Aquin. Bell addresses the problems inherent in the term aphorism, the narrative and discourse function of aphorism within the genre of the novel, the interrelation between the structure of aphorism and the epistemological and hermeneutical functions this sub- genre may perform as a component part of the narrative fabric, the "national" character of aphoristics, and the problems that arise from "anthologizing" a novel's aphorisms. The importance of aphoristic formulation in the French literary tradition and its undeniable presence in the modern novel make this a particularly significant and fruitful study. MARK BELL is assistant professor of French, Brigham Young University. This page intentionally left blank Aphorism in the Francophone Novel of the Twentieth Century MARK BELL McGill-Queen's University Press Montreal & Kingston • London • Buffalo © McGill-Queen's University Press 1997 ISBN 07735-1528-3 Legal deposit second quarter 1997 Bibliotheque nationale du Quebec Printed in Canada on acid-free paper Published simultaneously in the European Union by Liverpool University Press. Funding for the manuscript has been received from the Brigham Young University College of Humanities. Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Bell, Mark, 1951- Aphorism in the Francophone novel of the twentieth century Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7735-1528-3 i. French literature - 2Oth century - History and criticism. 2. Aphorisms and apothegms in literature. i. Title. PQ673.B44 1997 843'-9iO9i 096-900871-6 Typeset in Palatino 10/12 by Caractera inc., Quebec City Contents 1 Introduction 3 2 Aphorism in Twentieth-Century Narrative Prose in French: Theoretical Considérations 7 3 Terre des hommes 37 4 Alexandre Chenevert 50 5 Gouverneurs de la rosée 62 6 P/Mz'e e£ penf sur Télumée Miracle 71 7 La Route des Flandres 79 8 Présence de la mort 93 9 Ndge nofre 101 10 Conclusion 111 APPENDICES A Terre des hommes 119 B Alexandre Chenevert 124 c Gouverneurs de la rosée 130 D P/wfe et vent sur Télumée Miracle 134 E La Route des Flandres 136 vi Contents F Présence de la mort 141 G Neige noire 143 Références 147 Index 151 Aphorism in the Francophone Novel of the Twentieth Century This page intentionally left blank i Introduction This study explores how francophone authors use aphorism in seven novels published in the twentieth century. To be more exact, we will consider how writers conceive their own aphorisms and incorporate them into a novel's narrated chain of events. No substantial investigation of aphorism in the contemporary French-language novel has been undertaken to date. Therefore, as a point of departure it seems advisable to take into account two sem- inal studies before embarking on such a project. Jefferson Humphries, in The Puritan and the Cynic: Moralists and Theorists in French and American Letters (1987), focuses on aphorism in seventeenth-century French prose and in modern French poetry. He also articulates a rationale of "commonplace" utterances, invok- ing mainly deconstructionist assumptions. As a result of his inquiry Humphries posits the survival of the "maxim," at least in modern French poetry, as "a sort of negation of itself" (viii). While this premise may apply to some sententious formulation in French novels written in the twentieth century, it proves inadequate to a host of other texts. However, the idea is useful, restrictive as it might be, for it prompts more extensive inquiry into the ways that aphorism con- tributes to overall meaning in the novel. The second study, Sententiousness and the Novel: Layinq down the Law in Eighteenth-Century French Fiction by Geoffrey Bennington (1985), is helpful for the way it exposes the gamut of problems we encounter when we consider aphoristic propositions within imaginative prose. In a "postscript" that acts as an hors texte Bennington claims not to
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