Diaries Real and Fictional in Twentieth-Century French Writing (Oxford Modern Languages and Literature Monographs)

This volume is the first study of the diary in French writing across the twentieth century, as a genre which includes both fictional and non-fictional works. From the 1880s it became apparent to writers in France that their diaries—a supposedly private form of writing —would probably come to be published, strongly affecting the way their readers viewed their other published works, and their very persona as an author. More than any other, André Gide embraced the literary potential of the diary: the first part of this book follows his experimentation with the diary in the fictional works Les Cahiers d'André Walter (1891) and Paludes (1895), in his diary of the composition of his great novel, Le Journal des faux-monnayeurs (1926), and in his monumental Journal 1889-1939 (1939). The second part follows developments in diary-writing after the Second World War, inflected by radical changes in attitudes towards the writing subject. Raymond Queneau's works published under the pseudonym of Sally Mara (1947-1962) used the diary playfully at a time when the writing subject was condemned by the literary avant-garde. Roland Barthes's experiments with the diary (1977-1979) took it to the extremes of its formal possibilities, at the point of a return of the writing subject. Annie Ernaux's published diaries (1993-2011) demonstrate the role of the diary in the modern field of life-writing. Throughout the century, the diary has repeatedly been used to construct an oeuvre and author, but also to call these fundamental literary concepts into question. Cover Diaries Real and Fictional in Twentieth-Century French Writing Copyright Dedication Acknowledgements Contents List of Figures List of Tables References and Abbreviations for Primary Texts Note on Translations Introduction PREVIOUS APPROACHES TO DIARY-WRITING Real Diary-Writing in France Fictional Diaries MY OWN APPROACH The Early History of the journal intime Diary-Writing in the (Long) Twentieth Century SOME CRITICAL CONCEPTS The ‘Other’ in the journal intime Fiction and Reading Pacts The Author-Figure, the auteur suppos ́e, and the oeuvre The Supplement Gender PART I: ANDR ́E GIDE’S DIARY-WRITING INTRODUCTION 1: Les Cahiers d’André Walter READING CAW AS A REAL DIARY Paratext A Real Novelistic Diary WALTER’S TRANSITION TO FICTION Everyday Fictivity Walter’s Philosophy of Fiction Walter and Allain READING CAW AS FICTION Paratext Gide and Walter Les Po ́esies d’Andr ́e Walter: The End of an auteur suppos CAW AND THE DESIRE FOR A DIARISTIC OEUVRE 2: Paludes PARATEXT: GIDE THE ‘BIBLIOCLASTE’ Situating Paludes in Gide’s oeuvre Diary-Writing Indeterminacy in the Paratext INDETERMINACIES OF THE MAIN NARRATIVE An Ambiguous Diary Narrative The Narrator’s agenda Between Paludes I and Paludes II CONTINGENCY IN THE DIARY AND THE OEUVRE A Possible Response: Diary-Writing A Possible Response: The oeuvre, or Paludes II PALUDES AS THE OTHER POLE OF GIDE’S DIARY-WRITING 3: Le Journal des Faux-monnayeurs CONTEXTS AND PARATEXTS Contexts The Publication and Paratexts of FM and JFM Contemporary Reviews THE DIARY-WRITING PROJECT IN JFM TWO THEMES OF JFM The Function of the Diary Reality and Fiction THE DIARY AS SUPPLEMENT 4: The Journal 1889–1939 THE JOURNAL INTIME IN GIDE’S OEUVRES COMPLE`TES THE JOURNAL 1889–1939 Les Pages immortelles de Montaigne Paratext and Form of the Journal Programmatic Passages The Journal as an oeuvre A HIDDEN LEGACY: READINGS BY SARTRE AND BARTHES Sartre’s Carnets de la drˆole de guerre Barthes’s ‘Notes sur Andr ́e Gide et son “Journal” ’ THE JOURNAL 1889–1939 IN THE HISTORY OF DIARY-WRITING PART II: DIARY-WRITING AFTER GIDE INTRODUCTION 5: Raymond Queneau’s OEuvres compl`etesde Sally Mara CONTEXT AND CONCEPTS FOR READING SALLY MARA Queneau and the Author-Figure Sally Mara as an auteur suppos ́e Metalepsis SALLY MARA’S DEVELOPMENT AS A DIARISTIC AUTHOR-FIGURE On est toujours trop bon avec les femmes The Journal intime LesOEuvres compl`etes de Sally Mara IMPLICATIONS FOR DIARY-WRITING 6: The Return of the Diary in Barthes’s ‘Vita Nova’ RETHINKING BARTHES AS A DIARIST ‘LE DERNIER BARTHES’ The Return of Gide The ‘Vita Nova’ THE DIARIES The Journal de deuil ‘D ́elib ́eration’ Soir ́ees de Paris The Plans for Vita Nova DIARIES AND LITERARY LIFE-WRITING 7: Annie Ernaux: The Place of the Diary in Modern Life-Writing CONTEXTS FOR ERNAUX’S DIARY-WRITING THE JOURNAL EXTE ́RIEUR The transcription model The Diary of the vrai moi (ext ́erieur) A Diaristic Authorial Posture La Vie ext ́erieure THE JOURNAL INTIME Une femme as oeuvre The journal intime as Supplement The publication of Je ne suis pas sortie Se perdre THE JOURNAL D’E ́CRITURE E ́crire la vie as oeuvre The journal d’ ́ecriture as Supplement to the Previous Works L’Atelier noir and E ́crire la vie THE PLACE OF THE DIARY IN MODERN LIFE-WRITING Conclusion Bibliography Index "This volume is the first study of the diary in French writing across the twentieth century, as a genre which includes both fictional and non-fictional works. From the 1880s it became apparent to writers in France that their diaries--a supposedly private form of writing--would probably come to be published, strongly affecting the way their readers viewed their other published works, and their very persona as an author. More than any other, Andre Gide embraced the literary potential of the diary: the first part of this book follows his experimentation with the diary in the fictional works Les Cahiers d'Andre Walter (1891) and Paludes (1895), in his diary of the composition of his great novel, Le Journal des faux-monnayeurs (1926), and in his monumental Journal 1889-1939 (1939). The second part follows developments in diary-writing after the Second World War, inflected by radical changes in attitudes towards the writing subject. Raymond Queneau's works published under the pseudonym of Sally Mara (1947-1962) used the diary playfully at a time when the writing subject was condemned by the literary avant-garde. Roland Barthes's experiments with the diary (1977-1979) took it to the extremes of its formal possibilities, at the point of a return of the writing subject. Annie Ernaux's published diaries (1993-2011) demonstrate the role of the diary in the modern field of life-writing. Throughout the century, the diary has repeatedly been used to construct an oeuvre and author, but also to call these fundamental literary concepts into question."-- Provided by publisher This volume is the first study of the diary in French writing across the 20th century, as a genre which includes both fictional and non-fictional works. From the 1880s it became apparent to writers in France that their diaries - a supposedly private form of writing - would probably come to be published, strongly affecting the way their readers viewed their other published works, and their very persona as an author. More than any other, Andre Gide embraced the literary potential of the diary: the first part of this book follows his experimentation with the diary in the fictional works 'Les Cahiers d'Andre Walter' and 'Paludes', in his diary of the composition of his great novel, 'Le Journal des Faux-Monnayeurs,' and in his monumental Journal 1889-1939 An authoritative and original volume on the history of the diary in French writing in the twentieth century with a series of chapter-length studies on works by Andre Gide, Raymond Queneau, Roland Barthes, and Annie Ernaux. An authoritative and original volume on the history of the diary in French writing in the twentieth century with a series of chapter-length studies on works by André Gide, Raymond Queneau, Roland Barthes, and Annie Ernaux