GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE, INNOVATOR: L’ENCHANTEUR POURRISSANT (THE ENCHANTER ROTTING) AS THE LITERATURE PROGRESS EMBODIMENT

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the concept of progress introduced by G. Apollinaire, compare it with the main prevailing literary concepts existing in France in the 20th century, and demonstrate on the example of the experimental parable L‟Enchanteur pourrissant (The Enchanter Rotting, 1909) how the fiction principles of Apollinaire‟s theory are embodied in the structure of the work of art. The article considers the grammatical and lexical peculiarities of the parable L‟Enchanteur pourrissant, as well as the features of the narrative. Apollinaire deliberately spoke about the formal search, i. e. the search associated with the update of literary forms. The formal search is what writers did, who had an obvious connection with Apollinaire, that is with his concept: Alain Robbe-Grillet, Michel Butor, Claude Simon, Georges Perec, Raymond Queneau, Jacques Roubaud. Talking about formal search, Apollinaire determined the function of the form as accustoming the thought to the reality. It means that the literature progress or novelty according to Apollinaire consists in a close consideration of the existing language systems, genre sand forms, rather than invention of new languages or forms. Ananalysis of Apollinaire‟s treatise L‟Esprit Nouveau et les Poëtes (The New Spirit and the Poet), as well as his most experimental work L‟Enchanteur pourrissant (The Enchanter Rotting), allowed summarizing what the progress in literature is and concluding that G. Apollinaire is the founder of the French avant-garde.

Keywords

• progress
• theory
• experiment
• lexical peculiarities
• grammar
• narrative