Ch. V. dʼArlincourt: On the «fashionable» writer of the 1820s

This article discusses the extraordinary literary popularity of a rather mediocre French writer — Ch. V. dʼArlincourt (1789—1856). DʼArlincourt was an author of adventure novels. In the 1820s, his writings were bestsellers both in France and in Russia. Pushkin mentions this in his poem “Count Nulin”, comparing his name with the name of the poet Lamartine, whose poems also enjoyed great success at this time. Although dʼArlincourtʼs novels received scathing criticism, they ultimately prevailed over Lamartineʼs poetry in their readership.

Paul Groussac’s Void: The French Writer and the Argentine Tradition

The French-Argentine Paul Groussac embodied a wide range of writerly functions and cultural-political positions within the Argentine cultural field between the 1880s and the 1920s: writer, playwright, chronicler, traveler, literary, art, and music critic, historian, educator, editor, and director of the National Library during 44 years. This essay considers his place in the history of Argentine literature looking at two of the many ways in which he inscribed himself in it. The first takes up the production and reproduction of the ontological privilege of French identity as a form of legitimization for his public—and often polemic—interventions, through which he sought to establish scholarly-disciplinary practices, protocols, and conventions that would articulate an entire critical field around his own authority. The second proposes to think his alternatively weak and strong inscriptions in the literary tradition through his own narrative production: his fiction and dramaturgy, travelogues, and biographical sketches. In other words, this essay situates Groussac in an Argentine literary tradition (conceived as an organic and institutionally sanctioned textual corpus) he believed to have founded and established, a selfrepresentation that led Borges to say that Groussac saw himself as “a missionary of Voltaire among the mulattage.”

Traduction des connotations autonymiques dans trois romans de Michel Houellebecq

This paper deals with the autonyms or the widespread, orthographically indeterminate use of italics and quotation marks in Slovene translations of three of Houellebecq’s novels, which have been elaborated by three different Slovene translators. Autonyms are divided into three main categories according to whether they convey the words of definite or indefinite individuals, the language of the narrator himself or the concepts and values of the whole society. Within the framework of a style often qualified as “white”, the extended use of italics and quotation marks with function of autonymic connotation allows the author to transmit to the reader very fine semantic nuances and contributes to the richness of his work. Like metaphorical networks, stylems such as the recurrent and extended use of italics and quotation marks require from the translator a preliminary work of interpretation and the development of a coherent strategy making it possible to preserve intact the function of these elements in the narrative. Although the three translations analysed can be considered as globally faithful to Houellebecq’s texts and made possible the notoriety of the French writer in Slovenia, none of them is distinguished by a rigorous and coherent treatment of autonymic connotations indicated by non-normative use of italics and quotation marks. The most frequent and damaging anomalies are the maintenance of these visual signs where the expressions indicated in French do not have to be in Slovenian or, on the contrary, their elimination where it is perfectly possible and appropriate to maintain them for the detailed understanding of the text. The author draws attention to possible solutions and opts for the elaboration of a consistent translation strategy for the treatment of the analysed elements.

THE THREAT OF DISEASE ON FEMALE IDENTITY IN EMILE ZOLA’S NOVELS

Disease and its effect on the body and personal autonomy, as well as its influence on the social position of the diseased person, are among the key themes in the novels of the 19th century French writer Émile Zola. When it comes to female characters, illness has a multifold impact, having both physical and psychological effects, erasing in extreme cases female identity itself. The aim of this article is to offer insights into how sickness is depicted as a menace that leaves female characters deprived of any power they might have by affecting their appearance, which is the main indicator of their social identity and the key instrument they can use to establish and maintain relationships, and by taking away their ability to control themselves and how they are seen by others.

récit de circonstance à la pensée humaniste : la condition humaine en temps de guerre dans l’œuvre de Vercors

Los dos conflictos mundiales que protagonizan la primera mitad del siglo XX provocan un movimiento de renovación humanista en busca de nuevos valores para el hombre contemporáneo. Entre las muchas propuestas que surgen, la de la obra y el pensamiento del escritor francés Vercors, especialmente marcado por la Segunda Guerra mundial. En este artículo, trataremos de identificar y analizar las particularidades del nacimiento de la propuesta vercoriana en el contexto francés de la guerra y de la inmediata posguerra. Las primeras obras de ficción del autor se construyen a partir de un diálogo directo con la realidad contemporánea, escritos de los que surgen diferentes interrogantes sobre la condición humana a los que Vercors tratará de responder en sus ensayos de corte ético-filosófico. Para ello, proponemos un estudio detallado de algunas de estas producciones con el fin de crear un espacio de convergencia entre las identidades ética y estética que caracterizan las primeras publicaciones del autor. The two World Wars brought a trend of humanist revival in search of new values for con-temporary man. Among others, the Second World War particularly left its mark on the work and thought of the French writer Vercors. In this article, we will try to identify and analyse the particularities of the birth of Vercors’ works in the French context of the war and post-war periods. Based on contemporary realities, his first fictions raised questions about the human condition, which Vercors tried to answer in his ethical-philosophical es-says. We propose a detailed study of some of these texts in order to create a space of con-vergence between the ethical and aesthetic identities that characterise the author’s early publications. Les deux conflits mondiaux de la première moitié du XXe siècle provoquent un renouveau de la pensée humaniste contemporaine. Parmi les nombreuses propositions qui surgissent, l'œuvre et la pensée de l'écrivain français Vercors, particulièrement marqué par la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Dans cet article, nous tenterons d'identifier et d'analyser les particularités de la naissance de la proposition vercorienne dans le contexte français de la guerre et de l'immédiat après-guerre. Les premières œuvres de fiction de l'auteur sont construites sur la base d'un dialogue direct avec la réalité contemporaine, des écrits d'où émergent différentes questions sur la condition humaine, auxquelles Vercors tentera de répondre dans ses essais éthico-philosophiques. Nous proposons une étude détaillée de certaines de ces productions afin de créer un espace de convergence entre les identités éthiques et esthétiques qui caractérisent les premières publications de l'auteur.

mirada del flâneur. Influjo y presencia en la poesía y narrativa de Louis Aragon

En Louis Aragon, la flânerie ­­no sólo se manifiesta en los paseos que el escritor francés por placer pudiera dar por París, sino que, además, supone un modo de emplazarse en la ciudad y en su propia literatura. Abordar el estudio del flâneur desde la producción poético-literaria de Aragon nos permite deambular por las líneas de sus versos y fragmentos de su prosa onírica, como si de calles y avenidas se tratase, para participar en esa actividad artística que contribuyó fehacientemente a su consagración como escritor. En el presente estudio, por lo tanto, podrá constatarse que la flânerie no sólo se dio en su período surrealista, especialmente en Le paysan de Paris, sino que fue una constante a lo largo de toda su producción literaria. Para demostrarlo, se profundizará en varias obras de la poesía y narrativa del autor francés, buscando, en este ejercicio analítico, la influencia y presencia de esa mirada creativa del flâneur sobre el texto escrito. In the work of Louis Aragon, flânerie ­­is not only present in the strolls the French writer took around Paris for pleasure, but also implies a way of locating oneself in the city and in his literature. Approaching the study of the flâneur from Aragon’s poetic and literary oeuvre allows us to wander through the lines of his verses and passages of oneiric prose as though through streets and avenues, to take part in this artistic activity that irrefutably contributed to establishing him as a writer. In the present study, flânerie is therefore shown to be present not only in his Surrealist period, especially in Le paysan de Paris, but that it was a constant factor throughout all his literary work. To demonstrate this, several poems and narrative works by the French author will be analysed in depth, seeking to pin down the presence and influence of the creative gaze of the flâneuron the written text. Chez Louis Aragon,la flânerie se manifeste non seulement par les promenades que l’écrivain français fait pour le plaisir à Paris, mais aussi par une façon de se situer dans la ville et dans sa propre littérature. Aborder l’étude du flâneur depuis la production poético-littéraire d’Aragon nous permet de déambuler dans les lignes de ses vers et les fragments de sa prose onirique, comme s’il s’agissait de rues et d’avenues, pour participer à cette activité artistique qui a contribué à sa consécration en tant qu’écrivain. Dans la présente étude, nous pourrons constater que la flânerie n’est pas seulement apparue dans la période surréaliste d’Aragon, notamment dans Le Paysan de Paris, mais qu’elle a été une constante tout au long de sa production littéraire. Pour cela, nous explorerons plusieurs œuvres poétiques et narratives de l’auteur français, en cherchant, dans cet exercice analytique, la présence et l’influence de ce regard créatif du flâneur sur le texte écrit.

Konserwatyzm narodowy Maurice’a Barrèsa jako sprzeciw wobec nowoczesnej ideologizacji życia zbiorowego

The subject of the article is the philosophical and political concept of Maurice Barrès (1862–1923), French writer and thinker, the most important next to Charles Maurras, a national-conservative thinker in the Third French Republic. The author argues that the topicality of Barrès’ concept lies in revealing the threat arising from the desire to fully reflect reality in political ideologies. The hermeneutic exegesis of Barrès’s concept avoids its superficial reading as chauvinistic or internally incoherent. The author situates it as an ideological and historical context as a polemic with official ideology of the Third Republic, that is, Charles Renouvier’s neocantism. Its links with the concepts of Ernest Renan and Hyppolite Taine, writers combining individualism and agnosticism with conservatism, are revealed. The author points out that Barrès’ opposition to the ideologization of collective life resulted from his concept of man. In the course of its evolution — the transition from ‘The Cult of Self’ to conservatism, its individualistic aspect has been preserved. This justified both the valorisation of the nation as one of the sources of the self’s identity and the rejection of chauvinistic approaches to nationalism, not taking into account other factors forming the human identity, i.e. the region and the universal community. It also justified the rejection of ideological apriorism in politics and political projects.

Don Juan in Search of Identity in the Play "La Nuit de Valognes" by Éric-Emanuel Schmitt

The first play by the contemporary French writer Éric-Emanuel Schmitt, The Night in Valognes (La Nuit de Valognes, 1989), represents a completely new interpretation of the myth originating from the 17th century, and celebrated in the writings of many subsequent authors, from Tirso de Molina, over Molière and Mozart, to Ballester and Handke. The play is situated in a castle in northern France, taking place some thirty years after the well-known adventures of Don Juan, and represents a trial organized by five women, his former lovers. However, the penalty – to marry his last victim, is not executed. The aim of the paper is to argue that in this humorous philosophical play, written by the end of the 20th century, Schmitt is not interested in the problem of seduction, represented in the classical myth, but in the quest of the main character for his identity. His hero does not give the answer to the key question: “Who am I?”, but instead poses the question if our sexual identities are solid and unchangeable. The hero’s search for identity is presented as the quality of contemporary man, re-examining his sexuality through search for love, as well as homosexuality, hinted at in the play as one possible modern identity of Don Juan.

The geometry of artistic space in the works by Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust

The article considers the peculiarities of the artistic system in the works by the French writer of the turn of the 19th–20th centuries, VLGE Marcel Proust. The foundations of his aesthetic views, which are manifested primarily at the level of the structural organisation in the novel cycle “In Search of Lost Timeˮ are studied. The specificity of the narrative, where the main role is played by involuntary memory, allows us to speak about the special geometry of the artistic space in this work. It happens due to Proust's rejection of “plane psychologyˮ in favour of “psychology in time”. It is shown how on such a basis, thanks to the mnemonic mechanism, a complex connection of spontaneously arising spatial fragments with the temporal moments of existence arises and the chronotopic structure of the novel, built on the principle of relativity, is constructed where time becomes, in fact, the fourth dimension of space.