‘Am I not an Author?’ Social class and the contemporary French novel

ABSTRACT

While the term ‘working-class’ has fallen out of usage as the concept of class has lost its visibility and its power as a métarécit, this does not mean the issues that this term evokes have gone away. The hardship that comes of particular working lives, as well as the values and culture which are distinct from dominant bourgeois values, still exist. Indeed, in a France and a Europe in which inequality is growing, and in which ‘précarité’ has become an everyday term, how is this reality represented in the contemporary French novel? Through a discussion of the relationships between class, society and literature, this article will explore the tensions between the literary world and the working-class novel. It will then turn to the work of contemporary writers Olivier Adam and Edouard Louis, who not only engage with issues of social class in their creative work, but equally condemn the disconnect between literature and society on the French literary scene. This article will show that working-class experience has potentially been sidelined not only as a result of the reduction in visibility of the very idea of social class, but also as a result of the French literary scene’s approach to literature.

RÉSUMÉ

Bien que le terme «classe ouvrière» ne s’utilise plus et le concept même de classe sociale a perdu de sa visibilité et son pouvoir en tant que métarécit, les questions évoquées par ce terme n’ont pas disparu. La difficulté d’une vie de travail particulière, ainsi que les valeurs et une culture qui se différencient des valeurs bourgeoises dominantes, sont toujours en existence. Voire, en France et dans l’ensemble d’Europe l’inégalité ne cesse de grandir et la précarité est devenue un terme quotidien. Donc la question se pose: comment représente-t-on cette réalité dans le roman français contemporain? Cet article examinera deux exemples: l’œuvre d’Olivier Adam et celle d’Edouard Louis. Il ne s’agit pas seulement des questions de classe sociale dans leur œuvre, en plus ils condamnent l’écart entre la littérature et la société dans le monde littéraire français. Cet article discutera donc les rapports entre la société, la classe et la littérature afin d’identifier les tensions entre la littérature ouvrière de nos jours et le monde littéraire d’aujourd’hui. Il démontrera que l’on a écarté l’expérience ouvrière en raison non seulement de cette perte de visibilité de classe sociale, mais aussi en raison de ce que le monde littéraire français considère comme «littérature».

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Sociologists such as Robert Castel and Alain Touraine have shown us that the constitution of the working class has changed: Castel (1995); Touraine (1992).

2. Translated by Michel Lucey and published by Harvill Secker in 2017.

3. William Cloonan also makes a similar point about US literature in Cloonan (2008).

4. See the introduction to Chadderton and Kimyongür (2017, 1–9), for more details on the development of littérature engagée.

5. More recently, see also Dumas (2002, 260).

6. See, for example, the work of Thierry Beinstingel or Delphine de Vigan. This is a flourishing area of critical attention. See, for example, Chadderton (2017b).

7. For a more in-depth discussion of Beinstingel’s work and views on la fiction d’affaires, see also Chadderton (2017b).

8. See Hynyen (2017) for a breakdown of the definitions often used interchangeably in this area.

9. Manchette was a leading French crime writer who wrote from a left-wing perspective.

10. See Pobel 2003 which compares la littérature beur to la littérature prolétarienne of the past.

11. Adam has also written for children and written a number of screenplays which will not be discussed here due to their different intended audience or genre. His novels to date are: Je vais bien, ne t’en fais pas (2000, Le Dillettante); À l’Ouest (2001, Editions de l’Olivier); Poids léger (2002, l’Olivier); Passer l’hiver (2004, l’Olivier)—Goncourt de la nouvelle; Falaises (2005, l’Olivier); A l’abri de rien (2007, l’Olivier); Des vents contraires (2009, l’Olivier); Le cœur régulier (2010, l’Olivier); Les lisières (2012, Flammarion); Peine perdue (2014, Flammarion), La renverse (2016, Flammarion).

12. The writer expresses affinity with Ernaux in his interview with Busnel (2012).

13. Adam won the Goncourt de la nouvelle in 2004 for Passer l’hiver.

14. See also Raynal (2014).

15. Marie-Ève Tremblay-Cléroux comments that la banlieue in Les lisières ‘prend l’apparence d’une antithèse de Paris’ (2014, 37).

16. The title itself testifies to Adam’s continuing interest in what is sidelined.

17. His second novel, A l’Ouest, was published with L’Olivier, an offshoot of Seuil, with whom Adam stayed until 2012, when he followed his editor, Alix Penent, to Flammarion.

18. See, for example, Philippe (2012), in which Adam is described as ‘pleurnichard et complaisant’ or Béglé (2005), in which the reviewer describes ‘la noirceur qu’Olivier Adam se plaît à badigeonner sans modération’.

19. The front cover of Eddy is labelled ‘roman’.

20. The French term ‘transfuge’ is used widely in the media.

21. It should be noted here that some reviews criticised Louis for what has been read as a humiliating portrayal of his family and his background. See, for example, Meizoz (2014); Willems (2014).

22. See also Laurin (2014).

23. Apparently, Adam’s books sell around 70,000 copies on first release. See Cohen (2011, 19). Louis’s first novel sold over 160,000 copies. See 'En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule et-renaitre avec un bestseller', (Anonymous 2014).