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André Malraux and Romain Gary as the Writers of Adventure and Metamorphosis

Literatūra, 2022-10, Vol.64 (4), p.8-24 [Peer Reviewed Journal]

ISSN: 0258-0802 ;EISSN: 1648-1143 ;DOI: 10.15388/Litera.2022.64.4.1

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  • Title:
    André Malraux and Romain Gary as the Writers of Adventure and Metamorphosis
  • Author: Labouret, Denis
  • Subjects: Adventure ; history ; identity ; metamorphosis ; novel
  • Is Part Of: Literatūra, 2022-10, Vol.64 (4), p.8-24
  • Description: Among the French novelists of the 20th century, André Malraux and Romain Gary stand out for their practice and thought of adventure, at a time when individual adventure seems to be condemned by collective history. On this point, their works show clear convergences. Each of them, in fact, testified in his work to a life of “active adventurer”. Each of them built a work in which adventure, as a spring of action or as a theme of reflection, occupies a major place. La Voie royale and Les Conquérants, Les Racines du ciel and La Promesse de l’aube bear the mark of these convergences between two authors who are known to have frequented and appreciated each other. Moreover, according to both of them, the adventurer is in search of metamorphosis because he suffers from being locked up in the prison of identity. He seeks in adventure an experience of otherness which alone allows him to exist fully, by changing his “skin”. In this respect, much of Gary’s work seems to illustrate Malraux’s definition of the adventurer in the preface to Le Démon de l’absolu. But while Malraux moves away from the novelistic genre and turns, from 1945 onwards, to a reflection on art that gives adventure and metamorphosis an essentially aesthetic meaning, Gary does not cease to confer on adventure a profoundly existential meaning and goes so far as to situate it at the very heart of the creative process of the novel. This vision of adventure, which he develops in particular in his essay Pour Sganarelle, culminates in this ultimate adventure which will be accomplished, with the invention of Émile Ajar, in a totally new metamorphosis of the author. This discrepancy may provide an element of explanation for the differences that can be observed today between the reception of Malraux, who seems to be on the decline, and that of Gary, which is much more flourishing. Parmi les romanciers français du xxe siècle, André Malraux et Romain Gary se distinguent par leur pratique et leur pensée de l’aventure, en un temps où l’aventure individuelle semble pourtant condamnée par l’histoire collective. Chacun d’eux, en effet, a été dans sa vie un “aventurier actif” et a construit une œuvre où l’aventure occupe une place majeure. Chez l’un et l’autre, l’aventurier est en quête de métamorphoses parce qu’il souffre d’être enfermé dans la prison de l’identité. Mais alors que Malraux s’éloigne du genre romanesque en se tournant surtout, à partir de 1945, vers une réflexion sur l’art qui donne à l’aventure un sens esthétique, Gary ne cesse de conférer à l’aventure une signification existentielle et la situe même au cœur du processus de création romanesque, jusqu’à cette aventure ultime qui s’accomplira, avec l’invention d’Émile Ajar, dans la métamorphose de l’auteur. André Malraux ir Romainas Gary – nuotykio ir metamorfozės rašytojai Anotacija. XX a., kai individualus nuotykis, regis, jau buvo tapęs kolektyvinės istorijos dalimi, André Malraux ir Romainas Gary iš kitų rašytojų išsiskiria nuotykio refleksija ir praktika. Tiek vienas, tiek kitas buvo aktyvūs nuotykių ieškotojai, taigi ir jų kūryboje nuotykiai užima itin reikšmingą vietą. Vis dėlto Malraux nuo 1945 m. atsisako rašyti romanus ir pereina prie svarstymų apie meną, suteikiančių nuotykiui estetinę reikšmę. Gary ir toliau nuotykiui priskiria egzistencinę prasmę ir paverčia jį savo kūrybinio proceso šerdimi. Sukūrus Emile’į Ajarą, paskutinis Gary nuotykis įgyja aukščiausią autoriaus metamorfozės dimensiją.Reikšminiai žodžiai: nuotykis, istorija, tapatybė, metamorfozė, romanas.
  • Publisher: Vilnius University Press
  • Language: English;German
  • Identifier: ISSN: 0258-0802
    EISSN: 1648-1143
    DOI: 10.15388/Litera.2022.64.4.1
  • Source: Alma/SFX Local Collection
    DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals
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