Book contents
- The Cambridge History of the Novel in French
- The Cambridge History of the Novel in French
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Note on Conventions
- Chronology
- Introduction
- Part I Beginnings: From the Late Medieval to Madame de Lafayette
- Part II The Eighteenth Century: Learning, Letters, Libertinage
- Part III After the Revolution: The Novel in the Long Nineteenth Century
- Part IV From Naturalism to the Nouveau Roman
- 22 The Republic of Novels: Politics and Late Nineteenth-Century French Fiction
- 23 Medicine, Sex and the Novel: Maupassant and Rachilde
- 24 The Roman-Fleuve
- 25 Marcel Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu
- 26 The Novel in France Between the Wars
- 27 Existentialism and the Novel
- 28 Suspicion and Novelty: The Nouveau Roman
- 29 The Holocaust and the Novel in French
- Part V Fictions of the Fifth Republic: From de Gaulle to the Internet Age
- Index
- References
29 - The Holocaust and the Novel in French
from Part IV - From Naturalism to the Nouveau Roman
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 February 2021
- The Cambridge History of the Novel in French
- The Cambridge History of the Novel in French
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Note on Conventions
- Chronology
- Introduction
- Part I Beginnings: From the Late Medieval to Madame de Lafayette
- Part II The Eighteenth Century: Learning, Letters, Libertinage
- Part III After the Revolution: The Novel in the Long Nineteenth Century
- Part IV From Naturalism to the Nouveau Roman
- 22 The Republic of Novels: Politics and Late Nineteenth-Century French Fiction
- 23 Medicine, Sex and the Novel: Maupassant and Rachilde
- 24 The Roman-Fleuve
- 25 Marcel Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu
- 26 The Novel in France Between the Wars
- 27 Existentialism and the Novel
- 28 Suspicion and Novelty: The Nouveau Roman
- 29 The Holocaust and the Novel in French
- Part V Fictions of the Fifth Republic: From de Gaulle to the Internet Age
- Index
- References
Summary
The Holocaust poses a challenge to creative writers: can and should horrific events be used as the subject matter for literature? In the early post-war years French novelists were often reticent about giving direct, fictional portrayals of the Holocaust. Some developed experimental approaches which questioned and tested the limits of literary representation, crossing boundaries between truth and invention, testimony and fiction. Throughout these works there is a sense that the Holocaust both must and cannot be represented, that the memory must be kept alive even if the subject resists the capabilities of literary fiction. Despite the passing of time, there is no sign that the Holocaust is fading from the French literary scene. On the contrary, Jonathan Littell’s controversial novel Les Bienveillantes (2006) and a host of other recent publications suggest that it continues to fascinate and challenge French novelists.
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- The Cambridge History of the Novel in French , pp. 523 - 540Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021