Les collectionneurs chez Pascal Quignard – s ’accrocher obstinément au pass
Pascal Quignard’s collectors – stubbornly hold on to the past

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this article is to highlight – in a comparative approach – the versatility of the role of collectibles in the process of recollection among collectors in certain novels by Pascal Quignard. The analysis of the memorial discourse of collectors reveals two aspects: the different relationship to the value of the object (museum or intimate) and the power to trigger emotions. The discourse balances between an impersonal evocation, with emphasis on the material importance, the testimonial and aesthetic dimension of art objects from ancient times and a passionate and subjective description of small, banal objects, but charged with psychological meanings. The article demonstrates that excessively relating to time-/trace-objects by virtue of their documentary or commemorative value will lead to a failure of the memorisation process. Paradoxically, the collector always remains in search of the lost memory, despite the excess of material evidence he holds.

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