Transparence auctoriale et postures pronominales dans The First Person and Other Stories de Ali Smith

Abstract

The First Person and Other Stories (2008), like many of Ali Smith’s titles, points to the whimsical quality of her writing. In her stories metatextual asides that dissolve the frontiers of fiction coexist with flickering pronouns in stories of incorporeal characters. Her vague personalities and disembodied utterances are reminiscent of Grace Paley, and a playful spirit clearly predominates. Smith stages multiple voices in monologues and dialogues saturated with irony and intertext. Her stories are filled with authorial personas, first person, writer characters whom the reader is led to link to the image of the author. Humorous asides and startling analogies intensify an effect of authorial transparency. Although Smith’s stories appear simple on the surface, they actually reveal a striking narrative dexterity, and are evasive and challenging for the reader. In this article I will study the subtle effects of Smith’s metatextual frolic and authorial postures.

Keywords

• auteur
• jeu
• intertexte
• ironie
• lecteur
• métatextualité