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DEPARTEMENT DES LETTRES ET COMMUNICATIONS Faculte des lettres et sciences humaines Universite de Sherbrooke MEMOIRS DE MAITRISE / MA THESIS A comparative study of secular accounts of the apocalypse in four contemporary novels: - Kurt Vonnegut’sGalapagos, The Road by Cormac McCarthy - Nicolas Dickner’s Tarmac, andLes larmes de saint Laurent by Dominique Fortier. Une etude comparative de la representation seculaire de 1’apocalypse dans quatre romans contemporains: -Galapagos de Kurt Vonnegut etThe Road de Cormac McCarthy - Tarmac Nicolas Dickner et Les larmes de saint Laurent par Dominique Fortier. Par Eric N. Dahl Bachelier es arts, B.A. (Frangais, langue seconde) Darmouth College New Hampshire, United States of America MEMOIRE PRESENTE Pour obtenir LA MAITRISE ES ARTS (LITTERATURE CANADIENNE COMPAREE) Sherbrooke Avril 2013 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du 1+1 Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-94350-2 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-94350-2 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. Canada Compostition du jury Une etude comparative de la representation seculaire de 1’apocalypse dans quatre romans contemporains: -Galapagos de Kurt Vonnegut etThe Road de Cormac McCarthy - Tarmac Nicolas Dickner et Les larmes de saint Laurent par Dominique Fortier. Eric N. Dahl Ce memoire a ete evalue par un jury compose des personnes suivantes : Robert Edwards, Directeur de recherche Departement des lettres et communications, Faculte des lettres et sciences humaines Patricia Godbout Departement des lettres et communications, Faculte des lettres et sciences humaines David Leahy Departement des lettres et communications, Faculte des lettres et sciences humaines Acknowledgements 1 would like to thank my director Robert Edwards not only for his help and patience with my Master's, but for his letter to immigration Canada in the summer of 2000 allowing me to study in and eventually immigrate to Quebec. My most gracious thanks to my wife, Elise Salatin, without whom this thesis would have forever remained nothing more than a collection of thoughts and ideas scribbled hastily in the margins and discussed with friends at dinner parties. Merci! 2 Abstract This thesis is a comparative analysis of the apocalypse as a theme in four novels, two American and two Quebecois. Originally a biblical myth, apocalyptic tales are comprised of three narrative aspects defined Bertrand Gervais as Crisis, Time, Meaning / Sense. The four novels are analyzed individually according to these three elements. The American novels correspond to the more traditional pattern of the myth in which the world faces mass destruction followed by the survival of of the chosen-ones who will experience redemption. Contrarily, the two others demonstrate the conceptualization and representation of the traditional myth of the apocalypse towards a modem analogy of transformation of individuals within a profane world; one in which the mythical becomes farcical. Key words: Apocalypse, crisis, time, meaning, sense, destruction, collective, individual, intertexuality. 3 Resume Cette etude porte sur 1’analyse comparee du theme de 1’apocalypse dans quatre romans, deux Americains et deux Quebecois. Mythe biblique a 1’origine, le recit de I’Apocalypse comporte trois elements narratifs bien definis par Bertrand Gervais soient la Crise, le Temps et le Sens. Les quatre romans sont envisages, l’un a la suite de l’autre, en fonction de ces trois elements. II en ressort que deux d’entre eux correspondent au schema plus traditionnel du mythe avec sa destruction massive du monde suivi du choix d’elus qui auront la chance de connaitre la redemption. Les deux autres, par contre, demontrent 1’evolution du mythe traditionnel de 1’Apocalypse vers une analogie modeme de la transformation des individus dans un monde profane, ou le mythique devient meme risible. Mots-cles : Apocalypse, crise, temps, sens, destruction, collectif, individuel, intertextualite. 4 Table of Contents Composition du jury.......................................................................................................... Page 2 Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................Page 2 Abstract.............................................................................................................................. Page 3 Resume............................................................................................................................... Page 4 Introduction........................................................................................................................Page 7 Two Cultures: Two Apocalyptic Visions........................................................... Page 13 Conclusion............................................................................................................Page 19 Chapter 1: Kurt VonnegutGalapagos ......................................................................... Page 21 Life Eternal for Ghosts....................................................................................... Page 25 The Crisis o f the Blind Monsters....................................................................... Page 30 A Sense o f Contradiction....................................................................................Page 37 Chapter 2: Cormac McCarthy The Road ....................................................................... Page 43 Time as an Effigy................................................................................................. Page 47 Crisis: Apocalyptic Sprawl................................................................................. Page 53 The Meaning Revealed.........................................................................................Page 64 Chapter 3: Nicolas Dickner Tarmac ...............................................................................Page 69 The Shock o f Time................................................................................................ Page 73 A Crisis o f Contrasts.........................................................................................Page 80 The Meaning o f Syncretism................................................................................Page 90 Chapter 4 Dominique Fortier Les larmes de saint Laurent..................................... Page 94 Time as an Omen Page 98 Crisis: Somewhere Between the Carnival and a Labyrinth Page 106 The World Following the End o f the World Page 115 5 Conclusion........................................................................................................................Page 119 Bibliography Page 124 Annex Page 129 T a b le 1 N o t a b l e D if f e r e n c e s B e t w e e n t h e A m e r ic a n a n d Q u e b e c o is N o v e l s S t u d i e d ......................................................................................... P a g e 1 6 6 Introduction The basic elements o f the apocalyptic narrative include a transformative catastrophe and subsequent revelation o f ultimate truth. But apocalypse frequently blurs the boundary between art and life, a tendency that provokes a consideration of the broader social and historical context. Marlene Goldman,Rewriting Apocalypse in Canadian Fiction, 2005. A myriad of interesting things happens when the Apocalypse becomes a subject of interest. The first steps in research reveal that traditionally it is not only a unique and definitive moment when a world reaches its end and is destroyed by the hand of the Devil, but a complete and voluminous literary genre. For centuries authors from around the world have written a multitude of texts telling diverse tales of the end of the world1. Contrary to the meaning that popular belief has given to the apocalypse, it contains