Maps and Territories: Global Positioning in the Contemporary French Novel

248 Pages·2019·1.761 MB·English

by  Joshua Armstrong

Maps and Territories
Global Positioning
in the Contemporary French Novel
Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures, 61
Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures
Series Editor
CHARLES FORSDICK
University of Liverpool
Editorial Board
TOM CONLEY JACQUELINE DUTTON LYNN A. HIGGINS
Harvard University University of Melbourne Dartmouth College
MIREILLE ROSELLO DEREK SCHILLING
University of Amsterdam Johns Hopkins University
This series aims to provide a forum for new research on modern and contem-
porary French and francophone cultures and writing. The books published in
Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures reflect a wide variety of critical
practices and theoretical approaches, in harmony with the intellectual, cultural
and social developments which have taken place over the past few decades. All
manifestations of contemporary French and francophone culture and expression
are considered, including literature, cinema, popular culture, theory. The volumes
in the series will participate in the wider debate on key aspects of contemporary
culture.
Recent titles in the series:
47 Jason Herbeck, Architextual 54 Adrian May, From Bataille to Badiou:
Authenticity: Constructing Literature Lignes, the preservation of Radical
and Literary Identity in the French French Thought, 1987–2017
Caribbean
55 Charlotte Hammond, Entangled
48 Yasser Elhariry, Pacifist Invasions: Otherness: Cross-gender Fabrications
Arabic, Translation & the in the Francophone Caribbean
Postfrancophone Lyric
56 Julia Waters, The Mauritian Novel:
49 Colin Davis, Traces of War: Fictions of Belonging
Interpreting Ethics and Trauma in
57 Diana Holmes, Middlebrow Matters:
Twentieth-Century French Writing
Women’s reading and the literary
50 Alison J. Murray Levine, Vivre Ici: canon in France since the Belle Époque
Space, Place and Experience in
58 John Patrick Walsh, Migration and
Contemporary French Documentary
Refuge: An Eco-Archive of Haitian
51 Louise Hardwick, Joseph Zobel: Literature, 1982–2017
Négritude and the Novel
59 Ari J. Blatt and Edward J. Welch,
52 Jennifer Solheim, The Performance France in Flux: Space, Territory,
of Listening in Postcolonial and Contemporary Culture
Francophone Culture
60 Nicholas Harrison, Our Civilizing
53 Sarah Wood and Catriona MacLeod Mission: The Lessons of
Locating Guyane Colonial Education
JOSHUA ARMSTRONG
Maps and Territories
Global Positioning
in the Contemporary French Novel
Maps and Territories
LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY PRESS
First published 2019 by
Liverpool University Press
4 Cambridge Street
Liverpool
L69 7ZU
Copyright © 2019 Joshua Armstrong
The right of Joshua Armstrong to be identified as the author of this book
has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication data
A British Library CIP record is available
ISBN 978-1-78694-201-2 cased
epdf ISBN 978-1-78694-276-0
Typeset by Carnegie Book Production, Lancaster
for Savannah Colette

Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Part I. Watching the World Go By
1 Absolute Clarity: Michel Houellebecq’s La carte et
le territoire 21
2 Dérive psychose géographique: Chloé Delaume’s J’habite
dans la télévision 44
Part II. Getting Up to Speed
3 Planetary Ambitions: Lydie Salvayre’s Portrait de l’écrivain
en animal domestique 67
4 Décalage Permanent: Jean-Philippe Toussaint’s Fuir 85
Part III. Falling Through the Cracks
5 A Tale of Two Frances: Virginie Despentes’s Vernon
Subutex Trilogy 115
6 Deep Dérive: Philippe Vasset’s La conjuration 140
Part IV. Making Room
7 Asymmetrical Tactics: Jean Rolin’s Ormuz 171
viii Maps and Territories
8 Sense of Planet: Marie Darrieussecq’s Le pays 195
Conclusion 215
Works Cited 223
Index 235
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments
I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to the many people who
have helped me produce this book, whether directly or indirectly. For
inspiring and mentoring me over the years and along the way: Nelly
G. Kupper, Beverly Matherne, Fabrice Leroy, Ari J. Blatt. For reading
chapter drafts and/or book proposal drafts: Ari J. Blatt, Edward Welch,
Laurent Demanze, Tom Armbrecht, Névine El Nossery, Florence Vatan,
Anne Vila. For hard work, intelligent analysis, and lively discussion:
the students of the doctoral seminar I gave on this topic at University
of Wisconsin-Madison in the fall of 2017. For invaluable mentoring and
professional guidance during these last few years while writing the book:
Anne Vila. For unwavering support: Thomas and Mary Armstrong,
Theresa and Jeff Van Eck, Dutdao Wonglaka. For generously providing
permissions to reprint images: Bibliothèque Nationale de France and
Anonymous. For encouragement along the way and believing in the
project: Charles Forsdick and Chloe Johnson.