Modes d’emploi de la culture dans les interactions verbales
Uses of Culture in Fictional Interaction

Summary/Abstract: This research is based on the hypothesis that, during verbal exchanges made on the fictional scene, cultural aspects can play a dual role, according to the dichotomy “action”/”passivity”. As an agent, cultural acquisitions become behavioural models to be followed, but the excessive imitation by their readers brings with it a massive identification with the “stranger”, which proves to be dangerous for the process of individuation. On the other hand, it happens also that the reader of cultural products plays an active role, especially when he/she manipulates them in order to achieve some interactional goals closely related to his narcissistic ambitions (including his willpower), or to his defensive needs. The hypothesis formulated above will be tested within the study of three novels written at different epochs, having relevance to the attitude of the character towards the cultural elements to which he gets access, and to their implications for his identity or his relational life: You Don’t Love Yourself (N. Sarraute), Madame Bovary (G. Flaubert), Rameau’s Nephew (D. Diderot).

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