Tijana Miletic
European Literary Immigration
into the French Language
Readings of Gary, Kristof, Kundera and Semprun
Introduction
Romain Gary
Agota Kristof
Milan Kundera
Jorge Semprun
Table of contents
Index
Table of contents
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1 : LANGUAGE
Introduction
Typology of bilinguals
Bilinguals and monolinguals
The mother tongue
Choice of language, choice of French
Betrayal, pain and loss
The transition period
Successful substitution
Identity
Hierarchisation
Todorov's experience
The perception of French
The nomadic impulse and the myths of home, nostalgia and the mother tongue
Typology of migrants and foreigners
The family romance
Self-translation
Style in a new language
The reputation of languages
Conclusion
CHAPTER 2 : EUROPA
Introduction
European political identity
Cosmopolitanism
The myth
La Montagne blanche
Europe as an intersection of cultural references
Collective memory and hierarchy
The French topos of Europe
Kafka, Kundera and Central European cultural references
La princesse de légende (
La Danse de Gengis Cohn
)
Beauty and betrayal in European art
Cultural naturalisation
The myth of Lily and Florian
The aristocratic ideal of humanity
Europe or Europa as inspiration to art
Europa
Malwina and Erika
The image of the eighteenth century
Europe as a topos of the privileged classes
Europe as the creation of the European
Heritage and Art as the refuge of Europeans
The purposeful, non-cultural Europe
Beauty and female representation
Liberty and libertinism
Multiculturalism and multilingualism
Cultural heritage and the novel
Conclusion
CHAPTER 3 : LIBERTINISM AND UTOPIA
Introduction
L'Algarabie
Political Utopia
The picaresque
Etymology
The ideal reader and narrator
Friendship
Libertine writing and language
Libertinage
La Montagne blanche
La Lenteur
Literary libertinism
Happiness and maturity
Female libertines
An art of memory
A private Utopia
Literary heritage
Conclusion
CHAPTER 4 : DOUBLING AND INCEST
Introduction
The Trilogy
Le Grand Cahier
Fusional twinhood
Rational linguistic exercises
Parental death
La Preuve
Individuation
Yasmine's incest
Victor's incest
A delusion of twinhood
The inner reader
Exclusion of the mother figure and the female principle
The homosexual aspect of brotherhood
Writing as a survival technique
The brother's reappearance
Le Troisième Mensonge
Claus' childhood: a new version of events
Claus' negotiations of identity
The meeting of the twins and the revelation of "la chose"
Nomadic versus sedentary
The importance of writing
Motherhood and Klaus' near-incest
Symmetrical twinhood
Important dates
The immigrant's identity
Mirroring despair
Hier
L'Algarabie
La Montagne blanche
Actual incest
Imaginary incest
Juan Larrea
Conclusion
CONCLUSION
Appendix 1 - Plot summaries
Romain Gary:
La Danse de Gengis Cohn
(1967)
Romain Gary:
Europa
(1972)
Jorge Semprun:
L'Algarabie
(1981)
Jorge Semprun :
La Montagne blanche
(1986)
Agota Kristof: 1.
Le Grand Cahier
(1986)
Agota Kristof: 2.
La Preuve
(1988)
Agota Kristof: 3.
Le Troisième Mensonge
(1991)
Agota Kristof:
Hier
(1995)
Milan Kundera:
La Lenteur
(1995)
Appendix 2 - Biographical outlines
Appendix 3 - Diagram of relationships in La Montagne blanche
Bibliography
Index
Table of contents