Le désir monstrueux dans l’œuvre dramatique de Marie NDiaye
The Monstrous Desire in Marie Ndiaye’s Dramatic Work

Summary/Abstract: Marie NDiaye’s literary work is at times considered as an example of magical realism, a kind of realism whereby one of the structural elements does not quite fit within an otherwise true-to life-world, which therefore unexpectedly triggers the magical. In NDiaye’s dramatic works (in particular Hilda, Les Grandes Personnes and Toute vérité, the last one written in collaboration with Jean-Yves Cendrey, her husband), this “magical” element transpires in the characters’ desires. These “abnormal” (sexual perversion, narcissistic perversion) and out of the ordinary desires turn characters into monsters, even though, in a world where magic and reason are conflated, monsters are not necessarily defined in the traditional way. In addition, the exploration of devious phenomena leads to quasi clinical descriptions of behavioural disorders, such as BPD (borderline personality disorder), which takes Marie NDiaye’s works to a blurred border where magic and psychiatry can happily coexist, and where each reader/spectator can see a monster according to his/her own desires.

• Details
• Contents