The drole de roman gathers works by Marcel Ayme, Albert Cohen and Raymond Queneau, French novelists who belong to the same generation, share common readers and inspiration and, most of all, a specific vision: the nonserious. Their novels draw from the most obvious manifestations of the comical tradition (farce, burlesque) to its most subtle (irony, parody). In their works, laughter does not occupy a secondary position nor does it simply provide some reading impressions. In fact, laughter is often expressed by the characters and narrators themselves, whose sense of mischeviousness demonstrates the Rabelaisian joy of body and soul. / Besides, the drole is not restricted to its usual comical characteristics. In the prospect of literary history, it also refers to what stands apart from the realistic conventions inherited from Balzac and Zola. In other words, the drole is made of antirealism, merveilleux and fantasy. Thus, Ayme, Cohen and Queneau put forward their own response to the mimetic function of the 19th century realistic novel. Instead of renouncing the power of fiction, as Gide and Valery will often suggest, instead of denouncing its falseness, the three novelists give fiction even greater powers. / Based on the conclusions of the history of the novel and on studies concerning various aspects of its construction (the relation between reality and fiction, the conception of character and of its place in the community, the forms of the plot), this thesis wishes to shed light on the role and value of laughter through the study of three major themes: comedy, community and enchantment.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.115637 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Bélisle, Mathieu. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | French |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Département de langue et littérature françaises.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002837416, proquestno: AAINR66647, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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