Terre, territoires et tremblement : Claire Denis, Michel Houellebecq, Dany Laferrière Open Access

Abstract

Walls, barricades, and barbed wires mark the boundaries that separate territories. The study of representations of space, land and territories in the literary and filmic works of Dany Laferrière (Tout bouge autour de moi, 2011), Michel Houellebecq (La carte et le territoire, 2010) and Claire Denis (Beau Travail, 1999) reveals aesthetic and political patterns that inform us about worldviews either conforming to or resisting this division. A critical investigation of the imbrication of men, world, and territories inevitably requires an interdisciplinary framework. Thus, I use ecocritical theory in order to observe emerging environmental issues in contemporary novel and cinema. In addition, a geocritical framework, a literary cartography of sorts, allows me to study spaces seeped in geography and society. In Chapter One, the examination of Dany Laferrière's perambulation in the ruins left by the 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince (Haïti) reveals the organization and occupation of space by colonial and neo-colonial schemes. Edouard Glissant's concept of tremblement or tremor, Michel Serres's natural contract, and chaos theory, instead of dwelling on catastrophe, open pathways to constructive reimagining and remapping of the world. Chapter Two highlights Houellebecq's connections between dwelling, habitat, architecture, urban planning and modes of living. Specifically, Le Corbusier's architectural theories illustrate Houellebecq's practical vision of space and way of life.Deleuze, Guattari, and Glissant's concept of the rhizome reveals the desperate attempt of Western men to take root in a world in constant evolution. My final Chapter examines how the French Foreign Legion, in Claire Denis's Beau travail, endlessly strives to build and retain barricades in order to keep watch over a territory. Philosophers Deleuze and Guattari's notion of pierced, folded, smooth, or striated surfaces illuminate Denis's cinematic practice of the chiaroscuro and opacity, which challenge acts of penetration and domination. The overreaching goal of this dissertation is to switch from an egocentric to a geocentric overview that finally gives a voice to the Earth in an anthropocenic and symbiotic world shared by humans and nature in intertwined ecosystems. Literature and cinema pave the way and show us a world where walls that fail to link and connect must fall.

Table of Contents

ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………… iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……………………………………………………………vi

INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………..……………………… 1

CHAPITRES

I. DANY LAFERRIERE ET LE TREMBLEMENT…………………………………. 26

1. La faille salvatrice …………………………..…...……………..….32

2. Le désordre du monde……………………………………………...43

3. Un territoire insaisissable………………...………………….……..49

4. Un monde innommable……………………………………….……57

5. Un espace morcelé…………………………………………………64

II. HOUELLEBECQ ENTRE LES MURS …………………………………………… 74

1. Pourquoi Houellebecq et l'écocritique ? …………………..…….…80

2. L'impossible occupation de l'espace…………………….…………88

3. La recherche d'un espace vivable………………………….……….94

4. Vivre en lien avec l'environnement………………………….…….101

5. L'errance entre carte et territoire………………………….……….107

6. L'architecture et la représentation de l'espace…………………….118

III. CLAIRE DENIS ET L'ETRANGETE DU MONDE …………………………….. 131

1. La Légion : corps étranger……………………………...………..…137

2. Le corps du légionnaire : un territoire à maîtriser………………….156

3. Le territoire de Djibouti : un espace strié…………………………..174

CONCLUSION …………………………………………………………………..…… 193

BIBLIOGRAPHIE …………………………………………………………..………... 200

About this Dissertation

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	French
Degree	PhD
Submission	Dissertation
Language	French
Research Field	Literature, Modern Environmental Philosophy Literature, Comparative
Keyword	Claire Denis Territory, land, landscape Ecocriticism, geocriticism Urbanism, architecture, habitat Michel Houellebecq Earth, nature, environment Dany Laferrière
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Loichot, Valerie, Emory University
Committee Members	Nouvet, Claire, Emory University Xavier, Subha, Emory University

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