Representations of the Self and the Other in Contemporary French Fiction: A Semiotic-Cultural Approach
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31185/lark.5393Keywords:
Self, Other, Contemporary French Fiction, SemioticsAbstract
This thesis examines the representations of the Self and the Other in contemporary French fiction from a semiotic-cultural perspective, focusing on identity, self-positioning, and the positioning of Others within literary texts. The analysis centers on characters, narrative structures, semiotic signs, and cultural stereotypes in the works of Annie Ernaux, Patrick Modiano, Laurent Gaudé, Mathias Énard, Édouard Louis, Leïla Slimani, and Marie NDiaye. The findings reveal that self-understanding in contemporary fiction is narrative, relational, and positional, rather than a fixed self-narrative, and is grounded in and shaped by social and sociocultural memory. The Other also serves as a source of identity: the Self is constructed through dialogues with the Other and through narratives about Others, which are further articulated via signs, ethical dichotomies, and national ethos
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