Personaggi perdus in luoghi malinconici. Prospettive di ricerca nella letteratura francese del XXI secolo

Contemporary French literature, with particular reference to the last twenty years, is facing new changes. It is therefore necessary to look from a new perspective at the relationship between the writer and the real, with particular reference to the places that surround him. The call to reality has changed: it is no longer a mere yet profound observation of detail, as was the case in the literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but a continuous search for everything that revolves around the human being and to which he cannot give answers. The fact that we can see, for example, from the texts of François Bon, Annie Ernaux, Georges Perec, Patrick Modiano, Jean-Christophe Bailly is the complete loss of the character: he seeks clarification everywhere even in the places where he lives. The city and the countryside no longer seem as reassuring as they once were, and the individual’s relationship with the context becomes difficult. The subject is inscribed in a time and a place of restlessness, where there is neither escape nor refuge. Cities without margins that become places where man no longer recognizes his home, where every shelter seems to get lost, immersed in a time that remains uncertain. After these first reflections, the work proposed here is based on the studies made in relation to the theme of place within French literature. The ultimate ambition is to highlight how the role of the place changes within the contemporary literary landscape.