Dehumanization in the Works of Alain Robbe-Grillet.

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LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School
1972
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Jeri-anne Debois King
Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College
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King, Jeri-anne Debois, "Dehumanization in the Works of Alain Robbe-Grillet." (1972). LSU Historical
Dissertations and Theses. 2291.
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KING, Jeri-Anne DeBois, 1946-
DEHUMANIZATION IN THE WORKS OF ALAIN
ROBEE-GRILLET. [Portions of Text in French].
The Louisiana State University and Agricultural
and Mechanical College, Ph.D., 1972
Language and Literature, modem
University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan
©
1972
Jeri-Anne DeBois Kinp
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
DEHUMANIZATION IN THE WORKS OF
ALAIN ROBBE-GRILLET
A DISSERTATION
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the
Louisiana State University and
Agricultural and Mechanical College
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in
The Department of Foreign Languages
by
Jeri-Anne DeBois King
. A . , George Peabody College for Teachers, 1
M .A ., Louisiana State University, 1969
August, 1972
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .............................................................................. if
ABSTRACT......................................................................................................... iii
INTRO DUCTIO N............................................................................................ 1
CHAPTER I 19
DEHUMANIZATION AS SEEN BY ORTEGA AND
ROBBE-GRILLET...................................................................................
CHAPTER II 46
DEHUMANIZATION IN THE TOTALITY OF
ROBBE-GRILLET'S W O R K ................................................................
CHAPTER III 84
DEHUMANIZATION OF CHARACTERS; L'IMMORTELLE
AND L'ANNEE DERNIERE A MARIENBAD.................................
CHAPTER IV 100
DEHUMANIZATION IN THE DISAPPEARANCE Of THE
AUTHOR OR THE NARRATOR; LA JALOUSIE, DANS LE
LABYRI NT HE AND LA MAISON DE RENDEZ-VOUS . . . .
CHAPTER V 137
THE CLIMAX OF DEHUMANIZATION IN ROBBE-
GRILLET'S NOVELS; PROJET POUR UNE REVOLUTION
A NEW Y O R K .......................................................................................
C O N C LU S IO N ....................................................................................................... 155
BIBLIOGRAPHY 158
PLEASE NOTE:
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Filmed as received.
University Microfilms, A Xerox Education Company
acknow ledgem ent
The author would like to thank Dr. Mary S. Metz and Dr. Deiter
Galler for all their help and encouragement in the preparation of this
dissertati on.
11
ABSTRACT
Dehumanization is a high frequency term in todays vocabulary. This
word may be applied to almost any phenomena in the twentieth century. In
view of some critic's attacks of Alain Robbe-Grillet's novels for what they
call dehumanization or dehumanized description, this term has been designated
for study as it concerns itself with Robbe-Grillet's works.
An investigation of the term shows that the same word has two parallel
meanings, both with roots in the nineteenth century. There is a sociological
concept of dehumanization to be found in the nineteenth century novelists as
well as an aesthetic dehumanization to be seen in the Parnassian poetry and
the novelistic theories of Flaubert.
In 1925, Jose Ortega y Gasset used the term deshumanization in La
deshumanizacion del arte. Chapter I of this dissertation treats similar theories
in La deshumanizacion del arte and Robbe-Grillet's major critical work, Pour
un nouveau roman. Chapter II considers dehumanization in Robbe-Grillet's
total works. A major concern of some critics is the fact that Robbe-Grillet's
characters are so obviously not life-like. Thus, Chapter III treats
dehumanization of characters. Chapter IV treats a more complex concept of
aesthetic dehumanization in the disappearance of the narrator and author.
This concept is similar to Brechtian "distanciation". The last chapter treats
Robbe-Grillet's latest novel at the time of the writing of this dissertation.
This novel, Projet pour une revolution a New York marks the culmination
in the concept of dehumanization as it manifests itself in Alain Robbe-
Grillet's novels.
INTRODUCTION
Dehumanization is a term used very frequently today to denote man's
loss of identity by his dependance upon machines in our highly developed
technological society or by his submersion in the human masses congregated in
the cities and suburbs. The term "dehumanization" was first used by Jose
Ortega y Gasset in his work primarily on art criticism, La deshumanizacion del
arte, 1 925. This places the work directly within the confines of the twentieth
century.
Robbe-Grillet's literary critics in their turn have used the term to
describe his works or literary techniques, and some have used it as a basis for
an attack upon the writer. The chief critic who initiated this point of view
was Roland Barthes, whose term was "chosiste". In his introduction written for
Bruce Morrissette's Les romans de Robbe-G rillet, he divides the novelist into
Robbe-Grillet number one and Robbe-Grillet number two.
"Entre les deux Robbe-Grillet, le Robbe-Grillet n° 1, 'chosiste', et le
Robbe-Grillet n° 2, 'humaniste', entre celui de la toute premiere critique et
celui de Bruce Morrissette, faut-il choisir?"^
^Roland Barthes, "Preface", Les romans de Robbe-Grillet (Paris, 1963),
p. 13.