(Re)casting the Concierge in Muriel Barbery‘s L‘élégance du hérisson

Abstract

Renée Michel, a Parisian autodidact concierge with hidden interests in philosophy and modern art, is one of two narrative agents in Muriel Barbery‘s novel, L‘élégance du hérisson (2006). Her narration of her clandestine intellectual pursuits is characterized by a theatrical lexicon—both explicitly and implicitly on several occasions, she speaks of her “role” and the costume she dons in order to “play the part” of an uneducated Parisian concierge. In order to contextualize Renée‘s ascribed place in French society and literature, this article first summarizes the history of the concierge figure—both in and out of literature. Subsequently, textual analysis of Barbery‘s novel reveals to what extent Renée‘s narration, replete with theatrical terms, sets the stage, so to speak, for a (re)examination of the often stereotypical image of the French female concierge and the role that she has been cast to play.