The subject of my thesis is a study of the life and work of Jean Muno, a modern French-speaking Belgian author. From the 1950s to 1988, he wrote a variety of texts: novels, short stories, folktales, theatre and radio plays. In 1981, he was also elected a member of the "Academie Royale Belge de la Langue et de la Litteratrue Francaises" I have initially concentrated on capturing the perception the Belgian public had of Jean Muno through past and present literary and journalistic critical publications about him. Though he lived in the shadow of his famous father, Constant Burniaux, I have subsequently endeavoured to establish Jean Muno as one of the best representatives of Belgian Francophone literature since the Second World War. Basing my investigations on the work of C. Bally, L. Spitzer and M. Bakhtin, I have developed my own hermeneutic and circular stylistic methodology to approach Jean Muno's use of the language which is both innovative and imaginative. I have consequently demonstrated, through the analysis of concrete examples from his books, the extent t which his linguistic creativity is reflected in his themes. In a further chapter, I have concentrated on the <I>variables</I> in his oeuvre, discovering five tendencies. From a realist yet cynical prose, then through a surreal and fantastic style of narration, and finally to an inventive autobiography. Muno's linguistic specificity always filters through. In a second stage, I have described the recurrence of privileged arguments and linguistic patterns, unveiling the cinematographic attitude of Muno. I have examined his lucid vision of the world, his vivid imagination and his tendency to duplicate himself in his characters. Muno has depicted Belgium, education, literary circles, family, life and death in an ironic, quite pessimistic but humorous manner. Finally, I have defined a corpus of three autobiographical books to which to observe, describe and explain stylistic connotations. I have tried to define the reasons for their use, their consequences in Jean Muno's texts and their effects on the readers. I have also produced an exhaustive compendium of critical texts written abut Jean Muno emphasising in particular the ones which are of real interest to scholars.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:663177 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Van der Eecken, Barbara |
| Publisher | University of Edinburgh |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/1842/22708 |
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