Ostium (Jun 2018)

ANIMALITÉ MISE À NU : LES PERSONNAGES DES ROMANS DE KARINE TUIL (Revealed animality: characters of Karine Tuil’s novels)

  • Tereza Hemzová

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 2

Abstract

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The theme of animal and animality has been linked to literature since a long time ago. We could also find it in a writing of contemporary French writer Karine Tuil. The main characters of her novels (mostly women) are going through stressful life situations that make it possible for the readers to reveal the true depth of the human soul. In the present study we are dealing, among other things, with the question of what situations are turning people into animals – where is “the breaking point” in behaviour, when does man cease to be human and becomes an animal? We are also interested in the reaction of the main character’s surroundings, the Jewish society and the character itself. As the basis of our research, we chose three novels full of irony and Jewish humour from the pen of Karine Tuil: Interdit (Forbidden, published in 2001), Du sexe féminin (About the womankind, 2002) and Douce France (Sweet France, 2007).

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