Olivia Rosenthal: literature on the look-out

Author(s)

  • Morgane Kieffer Jean Monnet University
  • David Vrydaghs NaLTT, University of Namur

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51777/relief13484

Keywords:

Olivia Rosenthal, French Contemporary Literature, Criticism, intermediality, field literature

Abstract

The introduction to this issue first draws up a state of the art of Rosenthal's studies, based on the paradoxical observation of the omnipresence of the work in contemporary concerns and a difficulty for critics to fully embrace it. We will thus distinguish a first moment, around the 2010s, which follows two directions: on the one hand, Rosenthal’s work is studied through the prism of a cinematographic imaginary, from the founding reflections on the forms of intermediality; on the other hand, through a reflexion about the status of the address and the figure of the reader. A renewed interest for Rosenthal’s work is currently developing, in relation with an increasingly asserted concern for literature outside the book as well as for the protocols and epistemologies of so-called “field” literatures. The introduction then proposes to approach this work through a dynamic that was visible from the first texts but becomes increasingly noticeable over time: a literature “on the look-out”, implying a constant vigilance both from the author as she writes and from her readers on a formal and esthetic level, as well as a capacity to welcome otherness without naivety or paranoia.

Author Biographies

  • Morgane Kieffer, Jean Monnet University

    Morgane Kieffer is an associate professor in 20th and 21st century French literature at the Jean Monnet University in Saint-Étienne. She’s currently working on a book about the renewal of contemporary ‘romanesque’, both from a formal and narratological point of view and as a contemporary “symptom”, addressed – maybe encouraged – by academics and literary critics. In addition to this first field of interest, her research focuses on contemporary French literature from a generic and formal perspective (as is the case with the ‘romanesque’) but also from an epistemological point of view (to question the relation between literature and politics, for example). She recently co-directed La Machine à histoires. Le Romanesque dans les écritures contemporaines (2022).  Other work can be found in journals such as L’Esprit créateur, Littérature, Études Françaises, Roman 20-50, Relief, Sites, Fixxion, amongst others.

  • David Vrydaghs, NaLTT, University of Namur

    David Vrydaghs is professor of 20th and 21st century French literature at the University of Namur. Founding member of the journal COnTEXTES and the Namur Institute of Language, Text and Transmediality (NaLTT), he is particularly interested in the postures and representations of the contemporary writer. He has published on Michaux, the surrealists, Mauvignier, Chevillard, Volodine and Divry, and recently co-edited, with Denis Saint-Amand, Railler aux éclats. La veine satirique de la littérature française contemporaine (2021).

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Published

2022-12-19

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 2 (2022): Olivia Rosenthal: literature on the look-out

Section

Editorial

License

Copyright (c) 2022 Morgane Kieffer, David Vrydaghs

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Tous les articles dans RELIEF sont publiés en libre accès sous la licence Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0). Sous ce régime les auteurs conservent les droits d'auteur mais ils consentent à toute sorte d'utilisation de leur texte pourvu qu'il soit correctement cité.

How to Cite

“Olivia Rosenthal: literature on the look-out” (2022) RELIEF - REVUE ÉLECTRONIQUE DE LITTÉRATURE FRANÇAISE, 16(2), pp. 1–17. doi:10.51777/relief13484.