189064683 Alain Robbe Grillet and the New French Novel by Ben F Stoltzfus 1965

8/12/2019 189064683 Alain Robbe Grillet and the New French Novel by Ben F Stoltzfus 1965

1/3

University of Oregon

Alain Robbe-Grillet and the New French Novel by Ben F. StoltzfusReview by: J. H. MatthewsComparative Literature, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Winter, 1965), pp. 92-93Published by: Duke University Presson behalf of the University of OregonStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1769750.

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COMPARATIVE

LITERATURE

ALAIN ROBBE-GRILLET AND THE NEW FRENCH NOVEL.

By Ben F. Stoltzfus.

Carbondale:

Southern Illinois

University

Press,

1964. 166

p.

Although

Ben

F.

Stoltzfus'

study

links

Alain

Robbe-Grillet's work with that

of other

novelists

who

achieved

prominence

in

the

1950s,

only

in

the

first

chapter

( New

Forms

for

Old )

and

in

the conclusion does

it

really

raise their

names

for

discussion.

Even

then,

their

attitudes

are

considered almost

entirely

in

rela-

tion

to Robbe-Grillet's ambitions.

This

appears

to

be

why

Nathalie

Sarraute,

for

example,

a

major

novelist who

merits close

examination,

is

relatively

neglected;

her work

possesses

too few

similarities

to Robbe-Grillet's

for

Stoltzfus

to

discuss

it more than

cursorily

in

the

perspective

from which

he views matters.

In

the

event,

Robbe-Grillet's work is

here

profitably placed against

the

background

of

that of his

predecessors

more

systematically

than

against

that of his

contem-

poraries.

The

author

gives

most attention

to Sartre

and

to

Camus,

establishing

Robbe-Grillet's

point

of

departure

and

estimating

the

distance he has

traveled so

far.

Following

Laurent

LeSage

and

Renato

Barilli,l

Stoltzfus stresses Robbe-

Grillet's debt

to

Sartre,

and

argues

persuasively

that

in

Robbe-Grillet's novels

the

essence

of

Sartre's

existential

theory

has

been assimilated

into

an

indistin-

guishable

blend

of form

and

content

(p.

34).

Even

more

interesting, however,

is

the

same

thesis

presented

in

a

commentary upon

the

relationship

Robbe-Grillet's

writings

bear

to those

of

Camus.

Here Stoltzfus'

interpretation

impresses

one

as

most original. Indeed, the essential theme of his book develops from the elabora-

tion

of an

hypothesis

tested

in

turn

against

each

of Robbe-Grillet's

published

texts

up

to

L'Annie

dernicre

a Marienbad.

One

sympathizes

with

any

critic who aims

to make a

positive

contribution

to

serious

study

in

an area in which

he is

evidently

well

read,

while at the

same

time

obliged

to

offer

the

general

reader

elementary

guidance.

Despite

the fact

that

he

produces

creditable

results,

and finds in the

preface

written

for his book

by Harry

T.

Moore

a

discreet

array

of

plot

summaries

for

the

uninitiated,

occa-

sionally

we sense his

concern. He is

certainly

right

in

affirming (p.

99)

As

everyone knows,

Theseus,

with

Ariadne's

help,

slew the Minotaur and

delivered

Athens.

Perhaps, too,

it is in order

to assert that

everyone

knows that freedom

for Sartre depends on choice (p. 29). But is Stoltzfus entitled to write, Critics

have

consistently

misinterpreted

Robbe-Grillet's theoretical

writings

and

his

novelistic

technique

which,

as

everyone knows,

consists

of minute and

detailed

visual

descriptions

of

objects

and

things,

virtually

ad nauseam

(p.

37)

?

One is

inclined

to

wonder whether

he

does

not

risk

disturbing

certain

of his

readers,

incidentally, by

phrases

like the

last,

which run

counter

to

the

image

of

Robbe-

Grillet

as

a

remarkable

creative

artist the author's

analysis

seeks to

present.

This volume

incorporates

some

material

previously published

in

article

form,

and

would have benefited

from

closer

revision.

One

does

not

escape

an

impres-

sion

of

repetitiveness,

not

altogether

excusable on the

grounds

that the

author's

examination

is so

thorough.

What

is

more,

even the most attentive reader

may

find himself at some

stages

confused

by

Stoltzfus'

manner of

footnoting.

The

1

Laurent

LeSage

discusses Sartre's

relationship

to

the

nouveau roman

in

his

The

French

Neze

Novel,

4An

Introduction

and

a

Sampler

(University Park,

1962).

Renato

Barilli

contributes

an

article to Sartre

and

Robbe-Grillet

in

the

special

issue

of

La Revue

des

Lettres Modernes

devoted

to the nouveau

roman

(1964).

Stoltzfus

had

no

opportunity

to

see

this text

before his

book

went to

press.

92


3/3

BOOK REVIEWSOOK REVIEWS

avoidance of direct quotation makes for a more fluent text, it is true. But it does

at

moments

leave

one

wondering

at

what

point

the

author has ceased to

para-

phrase

his

sources and has

begun

to

formulate

his own

ideas.

Nevertheless,

these

are

minor

criticisms.

In

the

main,

Stoltzfus'

presentation

is

cogent

and

convinc-

ing.

Although

he does

not

admit

Robbe-Grillet to

the status

of

moralist-or

even

suggest

that

Robbe-Grillet would wish to be

regarded

as one---Stoltzfus'

analysis

of his

writings proposes

to demonstrate

that the

distance

of

which

Robbe-

Grillet

speaks

is the

philosophical

basis

of

his novels

(p. 35).

Stoltzfus

is

thus

led to

consider

in

detail the

role

reserved

in

these novels

for

tragic complicity,

which

Robbe-Grillet

has so

sharply

attacked

in

Camus. Seen

from

this

point

of view, the fascination of each of Robbe-Grillet's novels, and even of his first

cine-roman,

consists

in

the

combination

of

Editorial

Omniscience

(the

author's

point

of

view)

with

Selective Omniscience

(what

the character

sees).

The

analysis

undertaken

in

this

book

may

strike

some-especially

those

for

whom

Freud is a

rude word-as less

consistent than

the

author

would

hope.

Yet,

even

when

inviting challenge,

Stoltzfus'

dialectic is

stimulating,

and

makes

the

reading

of Alain

Robbe-Grillet

and

the New French Novel a

pleasurable

and

rewarding

experience.

J.

H.

MATTHEWS

University

of

Minnesota

CONCEPTOS

FUNDAMENTALES

DE

LITERATURA

COMPARADA. INICIACION

DE

LA

POESIA

MODERNIST .

By

Bernardo

Gicovate.

San

Juan

de

Puerto

Rico:

Ediciones

Asomante,

1962.

151

p.

This

is

a

rather

pretentious

little

volume. Its author offers

a

theory

of

com-

parative

literature

which

pushes

source

hunting

to an

extreme,

handles

concepts

which

comparatists

would

call

Urerlebnis, Bildungserlebnis,

and Genera-

tionsproblem

in

his own

poorly

informed

way,

and

applies

them

to

a

material

too

unimportant

for

illustration,

namely

to

the three

Latin-American

pre-mo-

dernistas, Marti, Casal, and Silva.

When I

say

poorly

informed,

I

mean

that

a

Hispanist

approaching

such

an

enterprise

as

disentangling

in

life,

literatures,

and cultures

the

sources

respon-

sible

for the

final

complexity

of a

literary

construct

certainly ought

to

start

from

earlier

attempts

like

Amado Alonso's

three classical

essays

which

have

covered

practically

all the

problems

at issue here:

(1)

El

modernismo en

La

gloria

de

Don

Ramiro

(Buenos-Aires, 1942); (2)

Vida

y

creaci6n

en

la

lirica

de

Lope,

Materia

y

forma

en

poesia

(Madrid,

1955),

pp. 133-163; (3)

Estilistica

de las

fuentes

literarias.

Rub6n

Dario

y

Miguel

Angel, ibid., pp.

381-397. Further-

more,

before

making

a

quick

decision

as

to

whether the

generation

of

1898 is a

hoax

or

a

literary reality,

one has to

study

not

Henri

Peyre

but Hans

Jeschke,

La generacion de 1898 ein Espafia (Ensayo de una determinaci6n de su esencia)

(Santiago

de

Chile, 1946);

and,

before

one

minimizes

the

importance

of the

generation

problem

for

literary

history

in

general,

one

must

know

the

funda-

mental work

on

the

problem,

Wilhelm Pinder's

Das Problem der

Generation

(Berlin,

1926).

I

admire, however,

Gicovate's

frankness

concerning

the

limitations of

com-

parative

results and the fact that

he

does

not insist on

the

validity

of

his

own

avoidance of direct quotation makes for a more fluent text, it is true. But it does

at

moments

leave

one

wondering

at

what

point

the

author has ceased to

para-

phrase

his

sources and has

begun

to

formulate

his own

ideas.

Nevertheless,

these

are

minor

criticisms.

In

the

main,

Stoltzfus'

presentation

is

cogent

and

convinc-

ing.

Although

he does

not

admit

Robbe-Grillet to

the status

of

moralist-or

even

suggest

that

Robbe-Grillet would wish to be

regarded

as one---Stoltzfus'

analysis

of his

writings proposes

to demonstrate

that the

distance

of

which

Robbe-

Grillet

speaks

is the

philosophical

basis

of

his novels

(p. 35).

Stoltzfus

is

thus

led to

consider

in

detail the

role

reserved

in

these novels

for

tragic complicity,

which

Robbe-Grillet

has so

sharply

attacked

in

Camus. Seen

from

this

point

of view, the fascination of each of Robbe-Grillet's novels, and even of his first

cine-roman,

consists

in

the

combination

of

Editorial

Omniscience

(the

author's

point

of

view)

with

Selective Omniscience

(what

the character

sees).

The

analysis

undertaken

in

this

book

may

strike

some-especially

those

for

whom

Freud is a

rude word-as less

consistent than

the

author

would

hope.

Yet,

even

when

inviting challenge,

Stoltzfus'

dialectic is

stimulating,

and

makes

the

reading

of Alain

Robbe-Grillet

and

the New French Novel a

pleasurable

and

rewarding

experience.

J.

H.

MATTHEWS

University

of

Minnesota

CONCEPTOS

FUNDAMENTALES

DE

LITERATURA

COMPARADA. INICIACION

DE

LA

POESIA

MODERNIST .

By

Bernardo

Gicovate.

San

Juan

de

Puerto

Rico:

Ediciones

Asomante,

1962.

151

p.

This

is

a

rather

pretentious

little

volume. Its author offers

a

theory

of

com-

parative

literature

which

pushes

source

hunting

to an

extreme,

handles

concepts

which

comparatists

would

call

Urerlebnis, Bildungserlebnis,

and Genera-

tionsproblem

in

his own

poorly

informed

way,

and

applies

them

to

a

material

too

unimportant

for

illustration,

namely

to

the three

Latin-American

pre-mo-

dernistas, Marti, Casal, and Silva.

When I

say

poorly

informed,

I

mean

that

a

Hispanist

approaching

such

an

enterprise

as

disentangling

in

life,

literatures,

and cultures

the

sources

respon-

sible

for the

final

complexity

of a

literary

construct

certainly ought

to

start

from

earlier

attempts

like

Amado Alonso's

three classical

essays

which

have

covered

practically

all the

problems

at issue here:

(1)

El

modernismo en

La

gloria

de

Don

Ramiro

(Buenos-Aires, 1942); (2)

Vida

y

creaci6n

en

la

lirica

de

Lope,

Materia

y

forma

en

poesia

(Madrid,

1955),

pp. 133-163; (3)

Estilistica

de las

fuentes

literarias.

Rub6n

Dario

y

Miguel

Angel, ibid., pp.

381-397. Further-

more,

before

making

a

quick

decision

as

to

whether the

generation

of

1898 is a

hoax

or

a

literary reality,

one has to

study

not

Henri

Peyre

but Hans

Jeschke,

La generacion de 1898 ein Espafia (Ensayo de una determinaci6n de su esencia)

(Santiago

de

Chile, 1946);

and,

before

one

minimizes

the

importance

of the

generation

problem

for

literary

history

in

general,

one

must

know

the

funda-

mental work

on

the

problem,

Wilhelm Pinder's

Das Problem der

Generation

(Berlin,

1926).

I

admire, however,

Gicovate's

frankness

concerning

the

limitations of

com-

parative

results and the fact that

he

does

not insist on

the

validity

of

his

own

933

Documents

189064683 Alain Robbe Grillet and the New French Novel by Ben F Stoltzfus 1965