CONTEMPORARY FRENCH LITERATURE: SOME REFLECTIONS ON THE CREATION AND CRITIQUE

Abstract

What is the value of literature in society today? This question seems fundamental and has already become the focus for many writers and critics in contemporary French literature, especially after the appearance of Structuralism. The objective of this paper is not to question the function of literature in society but to insist on the existential aspect of the literature and his relationship with the world of language. Specifically, we focus on the language element as an “another” reality that becomes not only space of creation, but opens a visible way to critique. Thus, the dialectical relationship between creative writing and language itself argues contemporary literature. To justify this hypothesis, we take as example the case of Roland Barthes and Jacques Lacan, who implement the language in literary analysis. Towards the literary creation, Christian Prigent exemplifies contemporary writer who treats language as the essence of his literary works.