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Review Author(s): Willard Bohn Review by: Willard Bohn Source: French Forum, Vol. 10, No. 1 (January 1985), pp. 119-120Published by: University of Nebraska PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40551131Accessed: 13-03-2015 12:52 UTC

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REVIEWS 119

Le Surréalisme et le roman 1922-1950. By JACQUELINE CHÉNIEUX-GENDRON. Lausanne: L'Age d'Homme, 1983. Pp. 385. It comes as no surprise to learn that the

present work was submitted as a Thèse d'Etat at the Sorbonne in 1979, for it possesses all the hallmarks of the genre. Although it exhibits many of the latter's virtues, it perpe- tuates most of its defects as well. Judging from the author's description, no attempt was made to remedy these in preparing the thesis for publication ("Le Surréalisme et le roman [1922-1950]," L'Information Littéraire, 32 [1980], 149-51). Indeed, very few

changes, if any, seem to have been made. On the plus side, Chénieux's attention to detail

is reassuring. She has obviously researched her subject in depth, and her study is well

documented. As her excellent bibliography reveals, she has taken extraordinary pains to identify and track down a large number of basic texts. In many cases, these appeared in hopelessly obscure magazines or were never published at all. On the minus side, the book suffers from too much attention to detail and tends to confuse compendiousness with comprehensiveness. All too often, the discussion bogs down in the microscopic examination of minutiae or loses itself in irrelevant issues.

As the title proclaims, the volume is devoted to Surrealism and the novel in general. While part of the study focuses on the Surrealist novel, other sections examine tangential subjects involving the movement's attitude(s) toward the genre itself. Ch. I documents the Surrealists' objections to traditional fiction from 1922 to 1940 and contrasts Breton's reflections on invention with those of Aragon. Ch. II surveys the Surrealists' readings in the traditional novel and considers the nature of Surrealist consciousness. Ch. Ill

develops the opposition between Breton and Aragon, between the "jeu des choses" and the "jeu des mots," and divides the Surrealist narrative into two camps. Chs. IV and V continue this idea and distinguish between a Surrealism of Continuity (Breton, René

Crevel, Georges Limbour, Leonora Carrington, and Benjamin Péret) and a Surrealism of

Discontinuity (Aragon, Michel Leiris, Robert Desnos, Gisèle Prassinos, Giorgio de

Chineo). The author further differentiates between contes, which are situated in a future or supernatural realm, and fictions "qui suspendent la question du statut exact de

l'imaginaire créé" (p. 19). The latter fall into four categories: logically possible, logically impossible, empirically possible, and empirically impossible. The final chapter examines the period 1940-50 and concentrates on Maurice Fourré and Julien Gracq.

The problem with this ambitious project is that it attempts too much in the limited

space available. In her eagerness to vouloir tout dire Chénieux succumbs to the tempta- tion to dire tout. Before she can examine the Surrealist novel, for example, she reviews the history of the narrative form (beginning with Don Quixote) in order to show that

every novel violates the expectations of the genre. A little later we are treated to a

lengthy digression on the workings of the imagination. Like the section on "Les Surréa- listes et leurs lectures romanesques," it only scratches the surface and has little to do with the rest of the book. In a similar vein one questions the necessity of refuting Sartre's critique of Surrealism, which also merits a section of its own. Another criticism has to do with the brevity of some of the more relevant discussions. Thus, Soupault's novels receive a scant seven pages, Tzara's Rêve expérimental two pages, and Queneau four pages. The fact that these are treated so fleetingly suggests that they might better have been omitted. A final objection concerns the volume's unconscionable length, which would approach 600 pages if it were set in normal-sized type. To make matters

worse, the reader is frustrated at every turn by huge clusters of footnotes which impede

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120 FRENCH FORUM

his progress. The first chapter alone, which spans ninety pages, contains 359 notes- most

of which are fairly voluminous. From the foregoing description it is clear that this book would have benefited from

some judicious pruning. Major surgery would have helped even more. As it stands the volume lacks a unified critical focus and a consistent methodology. In particular, the

author would have been well advised to abandon her attempt to combine literary history

(whence the numerous notes) with literary criticism and to concentrate on the latter.

By limiting her study to Chs. Ill-V and developing her argument in more detail, she

would have produced a consistently interesting work and a penetrating analysis of the

Surrealist novel. Despite its shortcomings the book has much to recommend it. Not only are the central chapters of particular interest, the study as a whole benefits from the

author's familiarity with contemporary criticism. Although some readers may find the

advanced critical vocabulary tiring, the level of conceptualization is such that the discus- sion takes place at a consistently superior level. Intended for the specialist reader, this work contains much that is interesting and may well inspire those working in the field to test the author's conclusions against their own.

Illinois State University Willard Bohn

L'Art romanesque de Raymond Roussel. By CAROLYN A. DURHAM. York, SC: French Literature Publications Company, 1982. Pp. 196. Roussel peut fasciner pour maintes raisons; mais, ce qui frappe d'emblée, c'est son discours: un des plus singuliers qui soient dans toute la littérature. Et les rapports qu'on découvre, au sein de ses œuvres, entre leur style et leur structure, ne sont pas moins étonnants. Or, malgré quelques bons

ouvrages sur Roussel (dont le meilleur reste celui de Foucault), il manquait jusqu'ici un relevé systématique de ses secrets de fabrication. Celui que propose Carolyn Durham est donc le bienvenu: il ne pourra qu'aider les autres critiques, surtout ceux qui, chez

Roussel, cherchent la clé du mystère sous la couche des mots.

Malheureusement, ce travail, tel qu'il est rédigé, rivalise en "bizarrerie" avec l'entre-

prise rousselienne (un / suffit)! Durham n'écrit certainement pas dans sa langue: son

français est plein d'anglicismes, de tournures incorrectes, de fautes de grammaire- au

point qu'on souhaiterait pouvoir lire son texte en anglais. C'est bien dommage car cela

risque, aux yeux des puristes, de diminuer la valeur intrinsèque de son étude. Celle-ci est articulée en quatre chapitres: la Fiction, l'Architecture du récit, la Tech-

nique narrative et la Génération, avec beaucoup de recoupements sinon de répétitions entre ces chapitres. L'auteur s'intéresse principalement à Impressions d'Afrique et à Locus Solus, mais, le cas échéant, il envisage et cite aussi d'autres textes de Roussel (dont l'indispensable Comment j'ai écrit certains de mes livres), si bien que toute son œuvre est finalement parcourue et donc présente à l'esprit du lecteur. S'agissant de procédés com-

plexes et de leurs applications diversifiées, un inventaire de ce genre est forcément rébar-

batif; et pourtant, malgré son découpage universitaire, il est à mon avis très lisible pour les non-spécialistes: grâce au fait que Durham ne tombe jamais dans un jargon. Ce qu'on peut lui reprocher en revanche (indépendamment des défauts signalés plus haut) tient à la perspective critique où elle se situe.

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