Aesthetics of fear and cruelty in works by two contemporary francophone women short story writers: Marie José Thériault and Nadine Monfils Cover Image

Esthétique de la peur et de la cruauté chez deux nouvellistes francophones contemporaines : Marie José Thériault et Nadine Monfils
Aesthetics of fear and cruelty in works by two contemporary francophone women short story writers: Marie José Thériault and Nadine Monfils

Author(s): Éric Vauthier
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, French Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: short story; cruelty; eroticism; Francophone literature

Summary/Abstract: Marie José Thériault (1945), from Quebec, and Nadine Monfils (1953), from Belgium, began their narrative writing career almost at the same time – the first one in 1978, with “La Cérémonie”, and the second one in 1981, with “Laura Colombe, contes pour petites filles perverses”. In their tales, they both show a predilection for the fantastic as well as for the marvelous, and they explore dark inspiration which can arouse anguish, fear or even horror. They both express this inspiration through real aesthetics of cruelty, and by expanding an inner world in which morbid eroticism figures prominently. These are some aspects studied in this paper.

  • Issue Year: 11/2016
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 97-105
  • Page Count: 9
  • Language: French
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