Réécritures contemporaines autour de la notion identitaire : vers l’hypernarcissisme ?

"Since Socrates famously stated “Know yourself”, the term identity has been redefined on multiple occasions and from different perspectives. The contemporary and postmodern era provides interesting nuances based on notions such as “dynamic rooting” (Maffesoli), “hominescence” (Michel Serres), or “personalization”, “desubstantialization”, and “hypernarcissism” (Lipovestky). In the light of a figure such as that of Narcissus, which emerges without taboos in the “era of emptiness”, I will address the notion of identity in the fictional work of two French authors, namely Sylvie Germain and Laurent Gaudé."

Silence as a modality of mystical experience in the work of Sylvie Germain

The article deals with the issue of silence in the thinking and work of the contemporary French author Sylvie Germain. The starting point for deliberation is the author’s essay Acte de silence (2011), in which silence is conceived both as a manifestation of God’s discreet appearance and as an act of humility and patience of man. The presence of silence seems to be a necessary condition for mystical experience. Silence understood in this way is the subject of the analysis in a selected passage from Germain’s novel L’Enfant Méduse (1991), which suggests some specific features of the author’s poetics of the transcendent, also present in her later novel work.

The poetics of reconciliation in French literary work of the 20th century. From Marie Noël to Sylvie Germain

Because of the Holocaust, World War II is the focal point for capturing spiritual experience in the 20th-century literature. How did the transformation of French spiritual literature from the poet Marie Noël in the 1st half of the century to the novelist Sylvie Germain at its end come about? Using examples from their work, this paper shows both authors’ sources of inspiration and highlights the means of expressing spirituality of a person going through an inner struggle. Although the authors describe a dark night, both of them they have a desire to overcome it, to reconcile with God, with the world and with themselves.

MAKNA REALISME MAGIS DALAM NOVEL JOURS DE COLÈRE DAN ’ENFANT MÉDUSE KARYA SYLVIE GERMAIN

AbstrakDalam sastra, realisme magis dianggap sebagai alat yang ampuh untuk menunjukkan perlawanan terhadap kolonialisme dan neokolonialisme, terutama di negara berkembang yang sebagian besar masyarakatnya digambarkan masih menderita akibat efek destruktif kolonialisme. Penelitian bertujuan mendeskripsikan makna realisme magis dalam novel Jours de Colère dan l’Enfant Méduse karya Sylvie Germain. Berbeda dengan definisi genre fantastique (Todorov, 1970), realisme magis hadir sebagai bagian wajar dan tak terpisahkan dari cerita yang realis (Chanady, 1985). Realisme magis yang ada dalam kedua novel ini ada pada mitos, legenda, dan dongeng yang tergambar dalam narasi, deskripsi, maupun tokoh-tokohnya. Sejalan dengan Eugene Arva (1995) yang mengungkapkan bahwa realisme magis adalah jalan untuk mengungkapkan trauma yang tidak bisa diungkapkan, tokoh-tokoh dalam kedua novel memiliki pengalaman traumatis baik yang disaksikan maupun yang dialami sendiri. Dengan menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif dan metode deskriptif analitis, hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa hal-hal magis yang melekat pada tokoh-tokoh di kedua novel dapat diargumentasikan bermakna sebagai strategi untuk mengungkapkan berbagai kejadian ekstrem yang ada dalam novel seperti kekerasan seksual dan pembunuhan. Penggunaan realisme magis ini tidak berfungsi untuk membuat pembaca memahami, namun untuk merasakan peristiwa yang terjadi.Kata Kunci: realisme magis, le mal, fantasi, traumaAbstractThis paper is intended to reveal the meaning of magical realism in the novels of Sylvie Germain's Jours de Colère l’Enfant Méduse. In contrast to the definition of the genre fantastique (Todorov, 1970), magical realism is present as a reasonable and inseparable part of a realist story (Chanady, 1985). The magical realism that exists in these two novels lies in myths, legends, and fairy tale that are depicted in the narration, description, and characters. Eugene Arva (1995) revealed that magical realism is a way to express unexplained trauma, the characters in both novels have traumatic experiences both witnessed and experienced by themselves. By using a qualitative approach and analytical descriptive method, the results of this study indicate that the magical things inherent in the characters in both novels can be argued as a strategy to express extreme events experienced such as sexual violence and murder. The use of magic realism is not working to make the reader understand, but to feel the events that occurred.Keywords: Magical realism, evil, fantasy, trauma