La tutelle de La Vie mode d’emploi de Georges Perec dans 209 rue Saint-Maur de Ruth Zylberman est-elle ludique ou existentielle ?
Is the Tutelage of Georges Perec’s Life A User’s Manual in Ruth Zylberman’s 209 Saint-Maur Street Ludic or Existential?
Author(s): Shuichiro ShiotsukaSubject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Fiction, Studies of Literature, Comparative Study of Literature, French Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II
Keywords: Georges Perec; Ruth Zylberman; investigative literature; reportage; constraints
Summary/Abstract: In this paper, we examine the relationship between the Oulipian aspect of G. Perec’s Life A User’s Manual (1978) and R. Zylberman’s investigation in her book 209 Saint-Maur Street (2020). If we dwell on this comparison, it is because there is a twist between them: on the one hand, this reportage is certainly a fine example of ‘investigative literature’, but it is not, unlike Perecquian reportages, under the domination of ‘existential constraints’; on the other, it is set in collective housing, as is the case with Perec’s novel, but without resorting to linguistic constraints. In the end, we show that the tutelage of Life A User’s Manual in the book of Zylberman is existential in nature, but with a hint of Oulipian playfulness.
Journal: Quêtes littéraires
- Issue Year: 2023
- Issue No: 13
- Page Range: 154-161
- Page Count: 8
- Language: French