Le roman comme volonté et comme représentation

A halo of mystery has long surrounded the figure of Salvat Etchart, an obscure writer in the French literary panorama of the 20th century. In 2001, Luce Mondor finally sheds some light on the author’s existence: her biographical work, Salvat Etchart: un «passant considérable», provides us with the intimate portrait of a solitary and tormented character. Rich in unpublished materials that illuminate Etchart’s poetic vision, this biography also allows us to read his work from a new perspective: it provides a better understanding of the autobiographical dimension of his texts, but it also illustrates the philosophical and literary influences that shaped his aesthetic project. This article aims to offer an analysis of his third novel, L’homme empêché (1977), which marks a true turning point in the author’s career, a transition from a poetics of engagement to a more introspective and self-focused mode of writing. By identifying the various elements contributing to the meta and autofictional discourse, the article will attempt to examine how this formal reflection fits into the broader philosophical speculation of the novelist, who, with L’homme empêché, sacrifices the activist fervor of his previous works to devote himself to the more intimate and subjective dimension of writing

Art · Humanities · Historical and Literary Analyses · Historical and Literary Studies · Philosophy · Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research