De l'empathie pour les bourreaux : analyse de la relation lecteur-personnage au travers de la réception des Bienveillantes de Jonathan Littell

Details

Supervisors

Tilleuil, Jean-Louis

Degree label

Master [120] en langues et lettres modernes, orientation générale, à finalité spécialisée: sciences et métiers du livre (édition, librairie, bibliothèque)

Abstract

enThis work proposes to study the question of the relationship that can be created between the character of a novel and its reader. To do so, this work will be based on Vincent Jouve's literary theory on the character effect and will show how the illusion of life of a novel's character can lead the reader to create a relationship of empathy with him or her. This link will allow us to understand the reception of Jonathan Littell's The Kindly Ones, arguing that the empathy that is created between the monstrous figure of Maximilian and the reader is at the origin of the rejection of the work by some German and French critics. This dissertation will also use the comparison with Robert Merle's Death is my Business to understand the evolution of the representation of the figure of the executioner and the anti-hero in literature and the arts in general.