Essays in French Literature and Culture (Nov 2023)
The Realistic and Sociological Aspects of the Contemporary French Novel [Les aspects réalistes et sociologiques du roman français contemporain]
Abstract
This paper explores key elements of the French “extrême contemporain” novel. From the 2000s on, the literary discourse of the French novel shows evidence of an ongoing process of a re-actualization of the realistic discourse with strong sociological aspects. A whole group of Contemporary French writers who, while they differ in their approach, all have in common a desire to reorganize reality as it is perceived by the author. It is a reactionary prose, one no longer of transgression or reflexivity, but rather of hyperproduction and creative argumentation: incoherence and confusion are suspended in favor of a down-to-earth materialism. What are the new realism’s characteristics? How is it expressed in today’s fiction? How does it differ from the realism of the 19th century? I will try to answer these questions by focusing on constitutive features of the realistic contemporary novel: investigation and “fieldwork”, science and technology, and “le roman engagé”.
