Paradoxes Between Things And Human In Novels Of Jean-philippe Toussaint

Jean-Philippe Toussaint,the representative writer of the French “New New Novel”,has become famous in the contemporary literary world with his “minimalist”writing style.His works deconstruct the grand narrative and outline the contemporary life scene in the description of trivial daily life.The current academic research on Toussaint’s early novels mainly focuses on the narrative perspective and the analysis of the symptoms of contemporary Westerners presented,while ignores the writing of objects in the novels.If anything,it is in the broad frame of a few strokes.However,the contemporary spiritual problems presented in Toussaint’s three early novels La Salle de bain,Monsieur and L’Appareil-photo,are deeply related to the involvement of a large number of objects in the novels.The things in Toussaint’s novels are different from the ones as background,modification and object in traditional novels.Instead,they participate in the construction of subject consciousness and undertake an important narrative function,resulting in the paradoxes of things and human that constitute an important dimension of novels,which is a microcosm of the relationship between things and human in the current consumer society,and which is why the novel is read with rich meaning.Therefore,throughout the intricate interaction between things and human in Toussaint’s early novels,this thesis attempts to confront the living plight and mental illness of contemporary Westerners from a new perspective,and then to explore the relationship between people and themselves and between people and the world.The thesis mainly adopts the method of text analysis,selects Toussaint’s early works La Salle de bain,Monsieur and L’Appareil-photo as the research objects,and excavates the paradoxes between things and human reflected in the three works by analyzing the writing of things and men in the texts.The main body is divided into four chapters.The first chapter discusses the paradoxes of the way of existence of things and human in Toussaint’s novels from a static level.The way of existence refers to the characteristics of things and human in terms of time,space,quantity,nature,state and so on.The human world is full of fractures,emptiness and chaos;while the world of things embodies the qualities of continuity,fullness and precision.The second chapter combines the conclusions drawn in the first chapter to explore the paradox arising from the interaction between things and human from a dynamic perspective.First of all,for human subjectivity,on the one hand,the characters in the novels want to use objects to achieve aesthetic and spiritual transcendence;on the other hand,people often fall into the obsession with objects and cannot extricate themselves.Secondly,for the needs of individuals,on the one hand,people obtain great satisfaction in the enjoyment of things,on the other hand,things bring great troubles to people.Finally,things form a paradox for the relationship between people.On the one hand,things become the link between people;on the other hand,things also cause huge rifts between people.Based on the research of the previous two chapters,the third chapter further explains the underlying causes behind the paradoxes and the writer’s concept of creation,namely how to discuss the relationship between people,between things and human,as well as the relationship between men and the world in order to express his thoughts on the human existence.In the contemporary western post-modern context,in the face of a world where beliefs and values have collapsed and meaning has been emptied,individuals turn their eyes to themselves,satisfying the enjoyment and the desire of the body in the loss of things,and feel empty,lonely and anxious in the break with the other and the world.This is precisely the dilemma of contemporary Westerners,which is mirrored by the paradoxes of the relationship between things and human in Toussaint’s early novels.In the face of such a spiritual dilemma,the novel characters struggle and redeem in their own way,including fatigue and stillness of reality.The fourth chapter explores the writing strategies of the paradoxes between things and human.First of all,the writing of the paradoxes reflects the return and transcendence of traditional novels.Secondly,in terms of writing people,the narrator’s logic of signified discourse is broken and the meaning is missing and uncertain.The use of free direct speech and indirect speech cancels the interaction between subjects.The storylines that relate to the characters are simplified.In terms of writing objects,the author uses visual writing to highlight the deep involvement of objects in the human world,mainly including color description and contrast of light and shade.Finally,on the rhetorical level,ironic humor highlights the absurdity of the characters in the novels when they relate to the world in the paradox of things and human.On the basis of summarizing the whole text,the conclusion of this thesis discusses the resistance of the characters to the dilemma,and raises an open question:whether this resistance can relieve the burden of existence,or make them sink deeper into the dilemma cycle of Sisyphus?...