Étude des procédés d’appropriation esthétique de l’astronautique dans Nous trois de Jean Echenoz suivi de Hellen-Freischmann
The essay entitled Études des procédés d’appropriation esthétique de l’astronautique dans Nous trois de Jean Echenoz explores the strategies employed by the author Jean Echenoz to engage in a new dialogue with the theme of astronautics, which he brings into play in his sixth novel. Characterized by a playful and distanced adherence to literary fiction, Nous trois plays with styles, references and language, inscribing his universe into an esthetic of precariousness, sparing no dimension of his work. His narrative structure induces a troubling ambiguity around the characters’ identities and narrative instances. On a diegesis level, the author sets an unstable and unsettling universe in which the subject of astronautics is exposed without any complacency. Taking advantage of the language’s inherent precariousness, Echenoz takes ownership of the astronautics’ lexicon which he employs to further his style. The novel Hellen-Freischmann narrates the journey of a peculiar author whose goal is to publish his manuscript starring celestial bodies as protagonists. This narrative is intertwined with the tale of a publisher from a prestigious publishing house who must come to terms with this atypical submission. These characters evolve within a dark universe where strangeness stands alongside familiarity, where likelihood threatens to fall into fantasy, and fiction contaminates reality. The novel is carried by an unusual and unstable voice, characterized by complex plays on focus, contrasted language use, and a certain indecision towards the role of narration in the story told. This playful narrator incorporates a nomenclature proper to astronomy, which serves both the intrigue and the style of the novel.
Narration Jean Echenoz Astronomy Publishing house Playfulness