Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- Introduction: A Clash of the Comparable
- Chapter I The Creation of the American in Paris: The American
- Chapter II The Splendor and Misery of the American Scientist: L'Ève future
- Chapter III The American Woman and the Invention of Paris: The Custom of the Country
- Chapter IV The Expatriate Idyll: The Sun Also Rises
- Chapter V Truths and Delusions: The Cold War in Les Mandarins
- Chapter VI Embracing American Culture: Cherokee
- Chapter VII An American Excursion into French Fiction: The Book of Illusions
- Chapter VIII Rerouting: Ça n'existe pas l'Amérique
- Chapter IX L'Américaine in Paris: Le Divorce
- Conclusion: Stasis and Movement
- Selected Bibliography
- Index
Chapter VIII - Rerouting: Ça n'existe pas l'Amérique
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- Introduction: A Clash of the Comparable
- Chapter I The Creation of the American in Paris: The American
- Chapter II The Splendor and Misery of the American Scientist: L'Ève future
- Chapter III The American Woman and the Invention of Paris: The Custom of the Country
- Chapter IV The Expatriate Idyll: The Sun Also Rises
- Chapter V Truths and Delusions: The Cold War in Les Mandarins
- Chapter VI Embracing American Culture: Cherokee
- Chapter VII An American Excursion into French Fiction: The Book of Illusions
- Chapter VIII Rerouting: Ça n'existe pas l'Amérique
- Chapter IX L'Américaine in Paris: Le Divorce
- Conclusion: Stasis and Movement
- Selected Bibliography
- Index
Summary
L'Amérique n'est ni un rêve, ni une réalité, c'est une hyperréalité.
(Jean Baudrillard, Amérique, 32)Chacun son Amérique.
(Dominique Falkner, Ça n'existe pas, l'Amérique, 39)L'Amérique est la version originale de la modernité, nous sommes la version doublée.
(Jean Baudrillard, Amérique, 76)Laquelle?
(Narrator's response when asked what he thought of L'Amérique in Dominique Falkner, Ça n'existe pas, ‘Amérique, 64)A défaut d'identité, les Américains ont une dentition merveilleuse.
(Jean Baudrillard, Amérique, 37)The more bacon you eat, the closer to heaven you git.
(neon-sign observed by narrator in Dominique Falkner's, Ça n'existe pas, l'Amérique, 57).At the same time as American academia's enthusiasm for the French critical methodologies lumped under the general rubric of “French theory” began to wane, and the once-dominant theories started to take a place in humanities departments among other critical approaches, a curious literary phenomenon began to emerge in France. Starting approximately from the traumatic events of September 11, 2001 and continuing to the present, more and more fiction written in French, either by authors associated directly with the Hexagon or from the broader Francophone community has begun to concentrate on various aspects of American life and culture in ways that were different from the past. This renewed interest in the States spans the world of contemporary French fiction to include both writers associated with the Hexagon and those lumped together under the rubric of Francophone. My point is to describe a widespread phenomenon which involves writers who publish in French whatever their background. While criticisms of American society remain an aspect of the French novel's version of the States, in recent years the personal has tended to overshadow the political. The American novel itself has become an increasing target of parody and pastiche, yet these are essentially playful approaches, which reflect at least as much respect for the American model as they do a certain bemusement at perceived American literary conventions.
The United States had become a new source of fascination for French writers. Now fascination is not necessarily the equivalent of admiration, and among the texts appearing in the last fifteen years or so, there have been critiques of American racism, politics, religious enthusiasm, and the illusion industry embodied by Hollywood. Yet these critiques have not been as vehement or self-righteous as they had in the past.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Frères EnnemisThe French in American Literature, Americans in French Literature, pp. 206 - 233Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2018