Table Of ContentAcknowledgments
If the recent proliferation of documentary narratives in French literature made it
challenging to find an endpoint for this project, it is an even more difficult task to
acknowledge, in just a few words, the essential and varied contributions of the
many colleagues, friends, and students who have played a role in the writing of
this book. I am lucky to work with an extraordinary group of colleagues at the
University of Chicago who offered feedback and criticism at various stages of the
project: thanks to Philippe Desan, Khalid Lyamlahy, Robert Morrissey, Larry
Norman, and Thomas Pavel. Special thanks go to Daisy Delogu for her constant
encouragement and support, and her attentive readings of chapters. Conversations
and writing exchanges with Jennifer Wild helped shape the project from its early
stages, and she has long guided my thinking on the connections between litera-
ture and film. Beyond my department, many other colleagues have offered
pointers and insights. Maud Ellmann helped me connect my work to broader
issues in European modernism. Haun Saussy gave essential reading suggestions.
Berthold Hoeckner challenged me to think through key aspects of my argument
on questions of evidence, traces, and sources. I am grateful to Maria Anna
Mariani for the intensity of her intellectual engagement with my work, and for
our ongoing conversations on theory and contemporary literature. Thanks also to
Rachel Galvin (with whom I most frequently wear my Oulipian hat but who is a
generous interlocutor on all things literary), and to Mark Payne (with whom I
generally discuss poetry, but who also encouraged me to pursue this project). Jan
Goldstein and Paula Iovene offered key insights and advice on a chapter presented
at the University of Chicago’s Workshop on Modern France and the Francophone
World. I would be remiss to leave out my students, who have participated in lively
seminar discussions that have challenged me to think critically about many of the
works I study here. A special mention should go to Bastien Craipain, Veerle
Dierickx, Chiara Nifosi, and Brenna Rice.
I am very grateful for the institutional support offered by the University. I
began to develop ideas for this book many years ago during a stimulating fellow-
ship year at the Franke Institute for the Humanities (2008–2009). More recently,
the Neubauer Collegium supported a collaborative and interdisciplinary faculty
research project on Fact and Fiction (2016–2017) which allowed me to explore
broad theoretical questions in the company of colleagues, including Dominique
Bluher, Anne Henly, Patrick Jagoda, Julie Orlemanski, Andrei Pop, Victoria
Saramago, and Salomé Skvirsky. A Humanities Visiting Committee Faculty
Research Grant (2017–2020) has provided me with direct support for my research,
facilitating the completion of this book.
vi Acknowledgments
Looking beyond Chicago, I owe an immense debt to colleagues and friends
who encountered early formulations of this work in conferences, workshops, and
lectures, both in the United States and Europe. I offer what is bound to be an
inadequate list of scholars who have contributed questions, suggestions, and ref-
erences on these and other occasions. Thanks to: Christine Armstrong, Cécile de
Bary, Emmanuel Bouju, Patrick Bray, James Cahill, Aline Caillet, Laura Chiesa,
Peter Consenstein, Nathalie Dupont, Jonathan Eburne, Clémentine Fauré-
Bellaïche, Maggie Flinn, Alexandre Gefen, Andrea Goulet, Maryline Heck, Jean-
Louis Jeannelle, Marcus Keller, Laurence Mall, Philippe Met, Armine Mortimer,
Warren Motte, Jacques Neefs, Oana Panaïté, Jean-Jacques Poucel, Gerald Prince,
François Proulx, Christelle Reggiani, Christophe Reig, Rob Rushing, Debarati
Sanyal, Michèle Vialet, Dominique Viart, Priya Wadhera, Christophe Wall-
Romana, and Marie-Jeanne Zenetti.
I would like to express special gratitude to Françoise Lavocat, whose expertise
on questions of fact and fiction has been immensely important to this book. I
have been fortunate to benefit from her intellectual generosity, careful reading,
and unwavering support.
Somewhat paradoxically, given my topic, I did not conceive of this book pri-
marily as an archival project; my concern is with the function of documents
within literary works rather than with the genetic study of manuscripts. Tracking
down authors’ sources made me feel like a fact-checker, engaged in a process of
verification which brought some reassurance and occasional surprises. I am
grateful to the Houghton Library at Harvard University, the Bibliothèque Jacques
Doucet in Paris, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Agence photographique
de la Réunion des musées nationaux (RMN), and the Cinémathèque française for
assistance with locating and accessing materials. For their help with images and
permissions, thank you to Laurence Braunberger of Les Films du Panthéon,
Charles Gil at Gallimard, Joan E. Howard of the Petite Plaisance Trust, and Fatima
Louli at the RMN.
I am grateful to Jacqueline Norton, my editor at Oxford University Press, for
her support for this project and to the two anonymous readers whose perceptive,
challenging, and detailed comments were invaluable for fine-tuning the manu-
script. Ella Capel-Smith and Aimee Wright at OUP expertly guided me through
the publication process. Thank you to Fiona Barry for her meticulous copy-
editing, and to the entire production team for their care and attention.
A final word of appreciation goes to my family, including my parents, Howard
and Dianne James, and especially the three people who have lived most patiently
with this project alongside me: Marc Downie, who has been my closest intellec-
tual interlocutor (and rapid-response reader!) for this and other writing projects;
Imogen, my aspiring writer who always inspires me; and Isabel, who tells me
when to close the laptop.
Note on Permissions
An earlier version of part of Chapter 1 appeared as the article “Le fait divers aux
frontières de la fiction: la rhétorique documentaire d’André Gide,” in Bulletin des
Amis d’André Gide, 177–78 (2013): 75–86. I am grateful to Pierre Masson for per-
mitting me to publish a revised and expanded version of the article.
The passage from Éric Vuillard’s L’Ordre du jour that opens the Epilogue is
reproduced courtesy of Actes Sud.
Copyright information and permissions acknowledgments for illustrations are
provided in the captions.
List of Illustrations
0.1 Page from Nathalie Quintane, Saint Tropez—Une Américaine © P. O. L, 2001. 30
Source: Nathalie Quintane, Saint-Tropez—Une Américaine © P. O. L, 2001.
1.1 Photograph of Blanche Monnier [Mélanie Bastian] in L’Illustration, June 1, 1901 60
Source: © L’Illustration, 1901.
1.2 Film still from Marc Allégret, Voyage au Congo, c. 1927 68
Source: picture from Voyage au Congo, by Marc Allégret © 1929 Films du Panthéon.
1.3 Film still from Marc Allégret, Voyage au Congo, c. 1927 73
Source: picture from Voyage au Congo, by Marc Allégret © 1929 Films du Panthéon.
2.1 Article from La Liberté, March 23, 1924, as presented in Aragon,
Le Paysan de Paris (1926) 90
Source: image from Aragon, Le Paysan de Paris © Gallimard, 1926.
2.2 Page from La Liberté, March 23, 1924 91
Source: courtesy of Bibliothèque nationale de France.
2.3 Map from Aragon, “Le Paysan de Paris (2e partie—II),”
La Revue européenne 26 (April 1, 1925) 100
Source: courtesy of Bibliothèque nationale de France.
2.4 André Breton, “Ses yeux de fougère,” in Nadja, rev. edn (Paris: Gallimard, 1963) 109
Source: Breton, “Ses yeux de fougère,” in Nadja, 2nd edn © Gallimard, 1963
© 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris.
2.5 Jacques-André Boiffard, “Big Toe, Male Subject, 30 Years Old,” 1929 113
Source: Jacques-André Boiffard, “Big Toe (Male Subject, 30 Years Old),” 1929.
Gelatin silver print, 31 × 23.9 cm. Repro-photo Philippe Migeat. Centre Pompidou,
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris. Image © CNAC/MNAM/Dist.
RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY.
3.1 “Souvenir pieux” for Fernande de Crayencour 145
Source: document conserved at Houghton Library and reproduced by permission
of the Petite Plaisance Trust. All rights reserved.
3.2 Second “souvenir pieux” for Fernande de Crayencour 146
Source: document conserved at Houghton Library and reproduced by permission
of the Petite Plaisance Trust. All rights reserved.
xii List of Illustrations
4.1 Rubric “D’Hier à aujourd’hui” with missing person announcement
for Dora Bruder, Paris-Soir, December 31, 1941 196
Source: courtesy of Bibliothèque nationale de France.
5.1 Kurt Schuschnigg in his apartment in Geneva, 1934 207
Source: courtesy of Bibliothèque nationale de France.
List of Abbreviations
AF/ML Breton, André, L’Amour fou (1937), in Œuvres complètes, Vol. 2, ed. Marguerite
Bonnet. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade (Paris: Gallimard, 1992), trans. by Mary
Ann Caws as Mad Love (Lincoln, NE and London: University of Nebraska
Press, 1987), 673–785.
AN/HMY Yourcenar, Marguerite, Archives du Nord (1977), in Essais et mémoires.
Bibliothèque de la Pléiade (Paris: Gallimard, 1991), 951–1184, trans. by Maria
Louise Ascher as How Many Years (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1995).
AR Gide, André, L’Affaire Redureau (1930), in Ne jugez pas (Paris: Gallimard,
1969), 95–136.
CG Duras, Marguerite, Cahiers de la guerre et autres textes, ed. Sophie Bogaert
and Olivier Corpet (Paris: P.O.L/IMEC, 2006).
D/TW Duras, Marguerite, La Douleur (Paris: P.O.L, 1985; repr. Paris: Gallimard
Folio, 2007), trans. by Barbara Bray as The War: A Memoir (New York: The
New Press, 1994).
DB/DBr Modiano, Patrick, Dora Bruder (Paris: Gallimard, 1997; rev. edn, Paris:
Gallimard Folio, 1999), trans. by Joanna Kilmartin as Dora Bruder (Berkeley
and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1999).
FM/C Gide, André, Les Faux-Monnayeurs (1925), in Romans et récits, Vol. 2, ed.
Pierre Masson. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade (Paris: Gallimard, 2009), 173–517,
trans. by Dorothy Bussy as The Counterfeiters (New York: Vintage, 1973).
J1 Gide, André, Journal. Vol. 1: 1887–1925, ed. Éric Marty. Bibliothèque de la
Pléiade (Paris: Gallimard, 1996).
J2 Gide, André, Journal. Vol. 2: 1926–1950, ed. Martine Sagaert. Bibliothèque de
la Pléiade (Paris: Gallimard, 1997).
JFM Gide, André, Journal des Faux-Monnayeurs (1926), in Romans et récits, Vol. 2,
ed. Pierre Masson. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade (Paris: Gallimard, 2009), 519–82.
LF Modiano, Patrick, Livret de famille (Paris, Gallimard, 1977; repr. Paris:
Gallimard, Folio, 1981).
LPP/PP Aragon, Louis, Le Paysan de Paris (1926), in Œuvres poétiques complètes, Vol.
1, ed. Olivier Barbarant. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade (Paris: Gallimard, 2007),
trans. by Simon Watson Taylor as Paris Peasant (Boston, MA: Exact Change,
1994), 143–301.
xiv List of Abbreviations
LSP/CWP Gide, André, La Séquestrée de Poitiers (1930), in Ne jugez pas (Paris:
Gallimard, 1969), 199–266, trans. by Benjamin Ivry as “The Confined Woman
of Poitiers,” in New England Review 24(3) (July 2003): 99–132.
MH/MoH Yourcenar, Marguerite, Mémoires d’Hadrien (1951), in Œuvres romanesques.
Bibliothèque de la Pléiade (Paris: Gallimard, 1982), 285–555, trans. by Grace
Frick as Memoirs of Hadrian (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005).
MS Breton, André, Manifeste du surréalisme (1924), in Œuvres complètes, Vol. 1,
ed. Marguerite Bonnet. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade (Paris: Gallimard,
1988), 309–47.
N/Nj Breton, André, Nadja (1928; 2nd edn 1963), in Œuvres complètes, Vol. 1, ed.
Marguerite Bonnet. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade (Paris: Gallimard, 1988), trans.
by Richard Howard as Nadja (New York: Grove Press, 1960), 643–753.
OI/SI Tadjo, Véronique, L’Ombre d’Imana, Voyage jusqu’au bout du Rwanda (Arles:
Actes Sud, 2000), trans. by Véronique Wakerley as The Shadow of Imana:
Travels in the Heart of Rwanda (Oxford: Heinemann, 2002).
QE Yourcenar, Marguerite, Quoi? L’éternité (1988), in Essais et mémoires.
Bibliothèque de la Pléiade (Paris: Gallimard, 1991), 1185–433.
RT Gide, André, Le Retour du Tchad: suite du “Voyage au Congo” (1928), in
Souvenirs et voyages, ed. Pierre Masson, Daniel Durosay, and Martine Sagaert.
Bibliothèque de la Pléiade (Paris: Gallimard, 2001), 515–707.
SCA Gide, André, Souvenirs de la cour d’assises (1914), in Souvenirs et voyages, ed.
Pierre Masson, Daniel Durosay, and Martine Sagaert. Bibliothèque de la
Pléiade (Paris: Gallimard, 2001), 7–67.
SP/DD Yourcenar, Marguerite, Souvenirs pieux (1974), in Essais et mémoires.
Bibliothèque de la Pléiade (Paris: Gallimard, 1991), 705–949, trans. by Maria
Louise Ascher as Dear Departed (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1991).
TC Gide, André, Travels in the Congo, trans. Dorothy Bussy (Hopewell, NJ: Ecco
Press, 1994) [includes translation of both Voyage au Congo and Le Retour
du Tchad].
UP/P Modiano, Patrick, Un pedigree (Paris: Gallimard, 2005; repr. Paris: Gallimard,
Folio, 2014), trans. by Mark Polizzotti as Pedigree: A Memoir (New Haven,
CT and London: Yale University Press, 2015).
VC Gide, André, Voyage au Congo: carnets de route (1927), in Souvenirs et voy-
ages, ed. Pierre Masson, Daniel Durosay, and Martine Sagaert. Bibliothèque
de la Pléiade (Paris: Gallimard, 2001), 331–514.
Note on the Text
When not otherwise cited, translations are by the author, Alison James.
