• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

INFORMATION TO USERS This material was produced from a microfilm copy of th e original document. While the most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this document have been used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the original submitted. The following explanation of techniques is provided to help you understand markings or patterns which may appear on this reproduction. 1. The sign or "target" for pages apparently lacking from the document photographed is "Missing Page(s)". If it was possible to obtain the missing page(s) or section, they are spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting thru an image and duplicating adjacent pages to insure you complete continuity. 2. When an image on the film is obliterated with a large round black mark, it is an indication that the photographer suspected that the copy may have moved during exposure and thus cause a blurred image. You will find a good image of the page in the adjacent frame. 3. When a map, drawing or chart, etc., was part of the material being photographed the photographer followed a definite method in "sectioning" the material. It is customary to begin photoing at the upper left hand corner of a large sheet and to continue photoing from left to right in equal sections with a small overlap. If necessary, sectioning is continued again — beginning below the first row and continuing on until complete. 4. The majority of users indicate that the textual content is of greatest value, however, a somewhat higher quality reproduction could be made from "photographs" if essential to the understanding of the dissertation. Silver prints of "photographs" may be ordered a t additional charge by writing the Order Department, giving the catalog number, title, author and specific pages you wish reproduced. 5. PLEASE NOTE: Some pages may have indistinct print. Filmed as received. Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Z ttb Rood Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 73- 18,868 BROOKS, James Edward Eugene, 193U- TKE FUNCTION OF MYTH IN THE NOVELS OF BORIS VI AN. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1973 Language and Literature, modern University Microfilms, A XEROX Company , Ann Arbor, Michigan © 1973 JAMES filhVAtUJ EUGENE BrtUCrkS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFLIMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED THE FUNCTION OF MITH IN THE NOVELS OF BORIS VIAN DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy iii the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By James E, E, Brooks, B.A., B.Sc. Bus Adm, M«A. The Ohio State University 1973 Approved By Adviser r’trarti'icat of Romance I rang'i ages and Literatures ACKHa/LEDGMEHTS I wish to thank Professor Don L. Denorest for introducing me to the study of French literature. My debt' to the late Professor Charles Blend for exciting ray interest in twentieth century literature is great, I would like to thank ny adviser, Pierre Actier, Alice Kaaren Courtney can never ho repaid for her moral support. VITA March 27, 1934 ....... Born, Roanoke, Virginia 1962 . , .*«***. B.A., Bi Sc* Bus Adm, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1963 . , ........... II. A., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1963-1964 ........... Graduate Assistant, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1964-1965 ........... Fulbright Fellow, University of Grenoble, Grenoble, France 1965-1966 ....... Fulbright Lecturer, University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France 1966-1967 ....... Graduate Associate, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1967-1972 ....... Lecturer, Division of Comparative Literature, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii VITA It INTRODUCTION 1 PART I, THE EARLY NOVELS Chapter I. Trouble dans lea Andaino 25 II. Vcrcoquin et le planeton 57 PART II. THE SULLIVAN CYCLE III. J'irai cracher sur vt>3 totnbea 91 IV. lea Morbs ont touo la meme peau 105 V. Et on tuera tcms les affrcux 120 VI. Elies ae rendent pno coCTpta 155 PART III. THE MATURE NOVELS VII, l’Ecume dea Jour a 146 VIII. l*Automne a Pekin 173 IX. l'Herbe rou^e 193 X. 1 >Arrache-cceur 216 CONCLUSION 25** BIBLIOGRAPHY 262 v INTRODUCTION In concluding the Avant-propoa for a re-edition of Boris Vian's last written novel, Raymond Queneau wrote, fIBoris Vian va devenir Boris -j Vian," a statement that is unceasingly becoming true: true no less of all his published works than of the image of the posthumous man. Vian has said of himself, "... etre connu, c'eet etre meconnu. an accurate appraisal of self by the writer who for years was known only as the author of a single scabrous novel. This latter judgement is a serious under-evaluation of the man who has been do (scribed by Pierre Kast as "1'Homme de l 1universal ito ... dans le temps de la spScialioa- tion, ... But with the rise of a new generation of readers, Vian is beginning to find his audience. As the critical appraisals of his texts multiply, the portrait of the man is becoming moro distinct in all its contradictory multiplicity, revealing him as an exemplary practitioner of his axiom, "... l'avenir est £ Pic de la Mirandolc; il faut etre un specialists do tout."** But let us begin at the beginning, Boris Vian, 1 1Arrache-coeur, presentS par Raymond Queneau (Paris: Jean-Jacques Pauvcrt, 1962*7, p. 8, o Cited by Pierre Kant (in) prScentation de 1 Mlerbe rouge by Boris Vian (Paris: Jean-Jacques Pauvcrt, 1962), p. 9. ^Ibid.. pp. 8 and 23. k % Boris Vian, "Un robot-poete no nous fait pas peur," letter to Andre Parinand, originally published in Art3, (10-16 avril 1953)I 2 Boria Vian was born on March 10, 1920, of well-to-do parents at Ville-d’Avray, near Versailles. He developed a rheumatic heart condition at the age of twelve which was complicated by a bout with typhoid fever three years later, in 193?* Despite his illness, he completed his first baccalaur&at in Lat in-Greek-Germ an in the same year, and in 1937 began to concentrate on the study of mathematics at the lyc&e Condorcet in Paris, preparing his entrance to l’Kcole Centrale. Discovering jazz about the same time, he studied the trumpet as his heart condition permitted. Not mobilised because of his health, Vian was accepted at Central# in 1939* removing to Angouleme with other students when the Ecole was evacuated to that city in anticipation of war with Germany. He received his diplome as engineer in 19^2, working at Association Franpaise de Normalisation (AFNOR) and 1 ’Office du Papier. He left the profession in 19^7 when he resigned his position at 1’Office du Papier to try to earn his living as a writer. Beginning in 19^2, Vian played trumpet in a number of amateur jazz groups, but primarily in the orchestra of Claude Abadie with whom he played until 19**9 . It was as the leader of a group of amateur musicians from the Abadie orchestra that Vian began to play at the Club Tabou in 19^7, moving to the Club St. Gerraain-des-PrSs the following year. This immediate post-war period constitutes the hey-day of the caves of St. Germain-dcs-Pres and signals the renewal of night-life on the Left Bank. collected in Cantil3nes en gelee (and other texts), Le Monde en 10/18 (Paris: Union General# d'Editions, 1970), p. 225. ^Kunero special de Bizarre. N° 39-**0, "Les Vies parallelss de Boris Vian," (Paris: Jeon-Jacques Pauvert, fevrier 1966), p. 5ff; p. 29ff. Along vrith Jean-Paul Sartre, Vian cane to symbolize that rebirth, although Vian was more an animating spirit than was Sartre.^ The sen­ sationalist press of the post-war period (which Vian has called "lee 7 a pisse-copie"), "... tcujours en quete d'une ’jeunesee d'apris-guerre'.., pervertie par 1 *existentialisme ... pour en dire le plus de mal possi- o ble... ," did much to distort the meaning of that rebirth, and Vian*o role in it. He was quickly dubbed "le Prince de St. Gennain-des-PrSa, "9 and a part of his legend was born. When the furor surrounding the publi­ cation of J’irai cracher sur vos tonbes built to a crescendo, the notoriety of Vian and the Quarticr of the caves was complete. Finally, on orders from his physician, Vian gave up trumpet playing definitively 10 in 1950 and gravitated away from the Latin Quarter, Vian's first known text, a collection of poems, les Cent Sonnets (written 19^2-43), remains unpublished. He wrote his first novel, Trouble dans les Andains (19^2-43), although it was published only post- 11 hunously in 1966, By nid-19^6, Gallimard had accepted manuscripts for two novels, Vercoquin et le plancton (written 19^3-*^) and l lEcume 6Ibid,, p. 31. 7 From the manuscript of: Boris Vian, Marrnol de St. Gcrmaln-des- Fres (written 1950, and as yet unpublished), cited by Noel Amaud in Bizarre, p. 51. 8 Bizarre, pp. 52-53• 9 Ibid.. p. 31. 10Ibid.. pp. 35-55. Boris Vian, Trouble dans les Andnino (Paris: La Jeune Parque, 1966). M, Rybalka mentions a fragment of a reman policier written in 19^2, Mort trop tot, in Boris VIan: esmi d 1 interpretation et de docu­ mentation (Paris: Minard, 19o9),p. 203. des jours (written 19^5-March, 19^), and Vian was a candidate for the publisher's Prix de la Pl&iade for 19^6. He had met Simone de Beauvoir and Sartre, both of whom read l'Ecume des jours and were delighted by 12 it, Vian had a nouvelle.

Load more

  283

Copy Link