First Advisor

Claudine Fisher

Term of Graduation

Fall 1991

Date of Publication

10-21-1991

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.) in French

Department

Foreign Languages

Language

English

Subjects

Julien Gracq (1910-2007) -- Criticism and interpretation

DOI

10.15760/etd.6130

Physical Description

1 online resource (3, v, 92 pages)

Abstract

Julien Gracq's quest for the "au-delà" is similar in many ways to the Surrealists' attempts to get in touch with the Beyond and to find that mythical and ideal point where binary oppositions are no longer contradictory but complementary. However, he differs greatly from the Surrealists in that his writing is anything but "automatic". Whereas he acknowledges being influenced by the Surrealists' ideas and by the works of certain authors, notably Goethe, Wagner, and Edgar Allen Poe, his works are a unique and carefully constructed web of style techniques, double-entendres, intertextual references, poetic devices, and a deliberate blurring of the dividing line between clear and obscure.

This thesis will attempt to show, through analyses of Gracq's themes, of his style, and of his use of symbols, the . deliberate and closely thought-out nature of his writing and the development of his personal vision of man's quest for meaning, from his first novel, Au Château d'Argol, to his more involved novels, Un beau ténébreux and Le Rivage des Syrtes, and in his only theater work, Le Roi-Pêcheur.

Chapter I will examine his background and connections with the Surrealists (especially André Breton) and the other authors who greatly influenced his works.

Chapter II will analyze aspects of Gracq's style which show his deliberate and careful choice and use of words as instruments to draw the reader into the quest.

Chapter III will examine some of Gracq's carefully thought out symbols, showing their connections with the alchemical symbolism of colors, with mythology, and with the ideas of Gaston Bachelard as to the importance of water in the imagination and the subconscious.

Chapter IV will explore the great themes of temptation, of waiting, and of the quest for spirituality evident in these four works and attempt to resume the unique character of Julien Gracq's quest and of his writing.

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Comments

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Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/24621

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