Here, you will find several examples of my literary research in French. Profitez !
This essay is called "L'Orphée Engagé," inspired by Jean-Paul Sartre's novel L'Orphée Noir. Based on the theory that Sartre was a socially engaged writer, I analyze the extent to which he conveys the absurdity of life in his works. As Sarte's protagonists either find happiness despite that absurdity or dwell negatively in its lack of meaning, this suggests that the condition of thinking is both a blessing and a curse.
This essay, "One must imagine that Meursault is happy," is a comparison between Albert Camus' protagonist in his novel l'Étranger, and Sisyphus, the man condemned to an eternity of pushing a boulder up a hill in Greek Mythology. This comparison constitutes a concrete example of the existential idea that life is absurd and lacks all meaning.
By analyzing a quote by Marcel Proust in his work Contre Sainte-Beuve, this essay points out the paradoxes of literary style. I do this by identifying the recurring motifs of writers such as Charles Baudelaire, who Proust imitates in his literary pastiches.
"The Motives of Mobile" studies the meaning of Michel Butor's nouveau roman Mobile. More specifically, I explore why Butor chose his particular literary form to describe the United States.