« Du roman malgré moi » : l’attrait du romanesque chez Philippe Vilain

Abstract

Four complementary forms of the romance coexist to varying degrees in Philippe Vilain's autofiction. The romance of love is presented as a variation on the "romance of inaction", and describes the resulting inner adventure. The romance of adventure is analyzed as a dramaturgy of surprise associated with an increased openness to possibility. The romance of disappearance and erasure highlights the gaps and flaws in the narrative. Finally, the intertextual novel, by setting up interferences between the ideal models proposed by the books and lives that are often disappointing, shows that « we are such stuff as dreams are made on ».