La valeur propositionnelle des espaces urbains dans l’oeuvre de Georges Perec, Annie Ernaux et Patrick Modiano
This thesis analyzes the urban space representations, as expressed in Un homme qui dort by Georges Perec, Journal du dehors by Annie Ernaux and Dans le café de la jeunesse perdue by Patrick Modiano. It highlights a conflicted and moving parisian imagery during the second half of the XXth century, with one novel from the late sixties, one diary written between the eighties and the nineties and one contemporary novel. This is aiming to show a striking coherence between the studied works. This sociocritical analysis focuses on the otherness suggested by multiple narratives in the city. The changing urban landscapes, which are caused by new types of public transportations or renovated and new neighbourhoods, are related to consumerism. It leads characters and narrators to semantically reinvest in their city. This brings them inevitably to a question: how could the city be radically different? How can they find and suggest its otherness? The thesis deals with the subject’s “shocks” in the city, as expressed by Walter Benjamin, as well as with his ambiguous relationship with the past and collective memory and also with the narrators’ ability to renew their urban experiences.
Georges Perec Annie Ernaux Patrick Modiano French Literature Sociocriticism City Space Georges Perec Annie Ernaux Patrick Modiano