Queneau et l’écriture du silence : le cas de Zazie dans le métro

Abstract

A fascinating topic for linguists as well as for writers, the relationship of silence to speech has been extensively explored by twentieth-century literature. Zazie dans le métro by Raymond Queneau (1959) constitutes an ideal ground for carrying out an investigation of this type as well as for approaching our theme from a linguistic perspective. The occurrences of the word and the importance of silence in the dialogues of this « phonocentric » universe (Jouet) prove it. In this paper, we will try to illustrate the role that « connective silence », which, as Paioni says, is « within discourse », plays in this novel. We will also try to define the position that Queneau as a « linguist » takes in the debate on the opportunity of considering silence as an « eloquent » form of communication.

Keywords

• Zazie dans le métro
• Queneau (Raymond)
• silence
• linguistics
• néo-français