Rompre le contrat hétérosexuel, consentir à d’autres imaginaires du désir ?

Abstract

Wendy Delorme’s Viendra le temps du feu and Phoebe Hadjimarkos Clarke’s Tabor, two French polyphonic dystopian novels published in 2021, can be construed as attempts to break free from a social contract that is essentially a heterosexual contract (Wittig), so as to usher in a utopian community where the dynamics of desire is redefined. As the reader is challenged to consent to these alternative imaginary worlds on a narrative as well as on a metaliterary level, both novels end up questioning the very desire for fiction as a source of empowerment.