Super-héros victoriens : la transfictionnalité dans The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, suivi de Fiction Party
Transfictionnality, a concept close to that of transtextuality, is defined by Richard Saint Gelais as "the phenomenon by which at least two texts, from the same author or not, relate jointly to the same fiction, whether by resumption of characters, extension of a previous plot or sharing a fictional universe". This Master’s thesis in research-creation examines Alan Moore's and Kevin O'Neill's use of transfictionnality in their graphic novel The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (1999-2019), and more specifically their recycling of narrative material from nineteenth century Great Britain, which is marked by the Industrial Revolution and the imperialist policies of the reign of Queen Victoria. Our aim is to better understand how the characters of literature of the Victorian era are appropriated by the authors, transformed and recontextualized so as to criticize the culture and the society that first generated them. Fiction Party is a transfictive and autofictional narrative in which Francis, the main character, is mistakenly invited to a party in honor of fiction at Dracula's Castle. He meets countless literary characters from every country and every epoch, including Antigone, Meursault, Emma Bovary, Don Quixote, and the sheriff of Nottingham. During the festivities, however, a murder is committed, and these great literary characters must then solve the mystery and identify the culprit, in a tribute to the detective fiction of Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie.
graphic novel comics Alan Moore transtextuality transfictionnality intertextuality rewriting steampunk nineteenth century Victorian era