New approaches to the city in contemporary French literature: Thomas Clerc and Philippe Vasset
PDF (Français (France))

Keywords

Contemporary French literature
Urban novel
City
Urban area
Axonometric city map

How to Cite

Lis, J. (2012). New approaches to the city in contemporary French literature: Thomas Clerc and Philippe Vasset. Studia Romanica Posnaniensia, 39(2), 99–109. https://doi.org/10.14746/strop.2012.392.007

Abstract

On the basis of two indecidable texts (Thomas Clerc, “Paris, musée du XXIe siècle. Le dixième arrondissement”, Gallimard 2007 and Philippe Vasset, “Un livre blanc”, Fayard 2007), we will reflect on new approaches to the city in contemporary French litterature. Clerc and Vasset, in their respective texts, suggest considering litterature as a series of practices connected with the exploration of the city (Clerc) and of the urban area (Vasset) according to the idea of an arbitrary itinerary. The image of the city whose space, subject to a permanent process of museifi cation, is constantly considered to be a work of art (Clerc) contrasts with a project of viewing the deserted areas of the city and of its surroundings as an infinite collection of “artistic installations” created in daily life (Vasset). Clerc’s and Vasset’s artistic mentality leads them to the fascination with “works of involuntary art”, both concrete signs and tangible proof of the transitional period which they try to describe systematically, following, at the same time, the principles of an axonometric city map.
https://doi.org/10.14746/strop.2012.392.007
PDF (Français (France))

References

Augé, Marc (1992): Non-lieux. Introduction à une anthropologie de la surmodernité. Paris : Seuil, coll. « La librairie du XXIe siècle ».

Bauman, Zygmunt (2009): Sztuka życia. Kraków : Wydawnictwo Literackie.

Clerc Thomas (2007): Paris, musée du XXIe siècle. Le dixième arrondissement. Paris : Gallimard, coll. « L’Arbalète ».

Lis, Jerzy (2009): « L’autobiographie “tellurique” de Henri Calet ». In : Wiesław Kroker [ed.], Histoire et critique littéraires en mouvement. Mélanges offerts à Henryk Chudak. Warszawa : Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, 278-293.

Vasset, Philippe (2007): Un livre blanc. Paris : Fayard.

Wielgosz, Andrzej (2004): O rysunku, obrazach, architekturze i utopii. Poznań : Wydawnictwo Miejskie.