The Subjectivity in/of Language in the Novels of Nathalie Sarraute and Claude Simon

Nathalie Sarraute;Claude Simon;New Novel;Nouveau Roman;subjectivity;Julia Kristeva;Maurice Merleau-Ponty;Wolfgang Iser;phenomenology;phenomenology of language;tropism;phenomenology of reading;consciousness;sensation;affects;interior monologue;memory monologue;stream of consciousness;perception;sous-conversation;metafiction;reflexivity;poetic language;reader;semiotic;French

Cooper, Ioana MMiller, Andrew H. ;

Johns Hopkins University

关键词: Nathalie Sarraute;    Claude Simon;    New Novel;    Nouveau Roman;    subjectivity;    Julia Kristeva;    Maurice Merleau-Ponty;    Wolfgang Iser;    phenomenology;    phenomenology of language;    tropism;    phenomenology of reading;    consciousness;    sensation;    affects;    interior monologue;    memory monologue;    stream of consciousness;    perception;    sous-conversation;    metafiction;    reflexivity;    poetic language;    reader;    semiotic;    French;   

Others  :  https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/bitstream/handle/1774.2/58672/Dissertation%20IC%20Final%205.docx?sequence=4&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: JOHNS HOPKINS DSpace Repository

【 摘 要 】

This dissertation examines the construction of subjectivity in the novels written by Nathalie Sarraute and Claude Simon in the 1950s and 1960s. This work inquires how Sarraute and Simon convey subjectively lived experience into written expression. I argue that for both authors writing is a way to explore experiences with the world and to recreate that experience in language, two seemingly different realities. While the subjective experience formed at the contact of the ;;subject” with the world is pre-conceptual, language is perceived as antithetical to sensible experience. Organized according to certain rules and used by the highest levels of consciousness, language manifests itself as an exterior reality that needs to be appropriated and transformed so as to materialize the subjective reality and make it meaningful.A close analysis of chosen texts allowed for the distinction of three aspects that contributed to the possibility of conveying such subjective aspects formed at the encounter with the world in language. Julia Kristeva’s understanding of the notion of ;;semiotic” helped define the first aspect which refers to those pre-reflective elements that make their way into language through a specific form of writing. Both authors use various techniques such as figurative language, rhythm, or punctuation to recreate sensations and affects in poetic language. The second aspect refers to the presence of subjectivity within articulate language. Reading these texts with Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of language in mind helped identify how subjectivity is constructed through content. Without a language to embody such subjective experiences with the world these encounters would remain on the level of vague and dormant sensations. It is only through writing that these experiences gain signification. Yet, the potential for signification within individual texts would itself remain latent, were it not for its actualization by the reader. Thus, approaching these novels through the lens of reader-response criticism, particularly Wolfgang Iser’s phenomenology of reading, helped define the third aspect: the reader’s contribution to the rendering of subjectivity. Sarraute and Simon wrote with the active contribution of the reader to the imaginative construction of the world of their texts in mind.