Aphorism in the Francophone Novel of the Twentieth Century

161 Pages·1997·7.88 MB·English

by  Mark Bell

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.
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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
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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