The subvertion of the mythical narrative in le roi des aulnes

Abstract

One of the most well disseminated ideas about the work of Michel Tournier is that he employs in his texts some mythical and historical elements by trying in a provocative, satirical and ingenious way to reconfigure them. The author himself, however, attributes the subversive load on his texts exclusively to the content they aim to carry, while the structure would grant his insertion in the most conservative romanesque tradition. In this article, the author attempts to challenge the veracity of this statement by analyzing the protagonist’s constitution, the narrative strategies and the temporal configuration of the novel Le Roi des Aulnes (1970). It is relatively easy to notice the critical and aesthetical intent in this novel in which an ogre goes in search of his fate in the core of the Nazi Reich. The analysis reveals, however, that to the complexity of the plot corresponds a hybridism of formal elements. The protagonist Abel Tiffauges oscillates between his past and his future; the narrative model is polyphonic and unstable; the temporal configuration joins mythical circularity to historical linearity. Thus, formal elements drive this novel away from traditional models and instill the problematical issues that the content tries to express.

Keywords: Michel Tournier. Le Roi des Aulnes. Narrative. Temporality. Myth. History.