Irony or persuasion? The choice by Emmanuel Carrère in Le Royaume

Keywords: Irony, Persuasion, Rhetoric, Non Fiction, Emmanuel Carrère

Abstract

The aim of this essay is that one to understand the relationship between irony and persuasion into the work by Emmanuel Carrère, in particular referring to L’Adversaire and Le Royaume, which are deeply related.

This study will demonstrate that Carrère and Michelstaedter, even if they do not have a direct relation, use similar words to express their thought; this justifies the recall to the author from Trieste as a theoretical and philosophical support for the analysis of the works by the French author.

Through a deep comparison of the works and a consistent number of quotations, it will be analysed in particular: 1. The passage from the fiction to the non fiction; 2. The relationship, not linear, between these two aspects and those called persuasion and rethoric by Michelstaedter; 3. The oppositive relationship between irony and persuasion (referring to the definitions by Bergson and Pirandello); 4.The persistence of irony and rhetoric in Le Royaume which are denied by an ending leading to persuasion.

The reached results show that The Royaume ends an open path with L’Adversaire and an entire season in the production by Carrère characterised by the use of irony and unbelief. In the ending of his last book, the French author chooses to sacrify his own identity of a writer and of a skeptical  intellectual to hug that one of a persuade man.

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Author Biography

Alessandro Cinquegrani, University Ca' Foscari, Venezia

Alessandro Cinquegrani, researcher of Comparative Literature at the university Ca’ Foscari in Venice, deals mainly with the narrative from the post-war till today, in particular the last thirty years. He has also studied the drammi “spagnoleschi” by Carlo Gozzi and the reception in Italy of the Spanish theatre of the Siglo de Oro. Among his works he has published the following volumes: L’innesto. Realtà e finzioni da Matrix a 1Q84 (2014), l’edizione critica della Donna vendicativa disarmata dall’obbligazione di Carlo Gozzi (2013), Letteratura e cinema (2009), Solitudine di Umberto Saba. Da Ernesto al Canzoniere (2007), La partita a scacchi con Dio. Per una metafisica dell’opera di Gesualdo Bufalino (2002). Dirige la collana editoriale “Innesti/Crossroads” for Ca’ Foscari editions.

References

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Asor Rosa, Alberto, “La persuasione e la rettorica” di Carlo Michelstaedter, in Letteratura italiana. Le opere, opera diretta da Alberto Asor Rosa, vol. IV, Il Novecento. L’età della crisi, Torino, Einaudi, 1995, pp. 265-332.

Barthes, Roland, S/Z, trad. it. di Lidia Lonzi, Torino, Einaudi, 1981.

Bergson, Henri, Il riso. Saggio sul significato del comico, prefazione di Beniamino Placido, Eds. Arnaldo Cervasato e Carmine Gallo, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1994.

Cantarano, Giuseppe, Immagini del nulla. La filosofia italiana contemporanea, Milano, Bruno Mondadori, 1998.

Carrère, Emmanuel, L’Adversaire, Paris, P.O.L, 2000, trad. it. di Eliana Vicari Fabris, L’avversario, Torino, Einaudi, 2000.

Id., La Classe de neige, Paris, P.O.L., 1995, trad. it. di Paola Gallo, La settimana bianca, Milano, Adelphi, 2014.

Id., Le Royaume, Paris, P.O.L., 2014, trad. it. di Francesco Bergamasco, Il Regno, Milano, Adelphi, 2015.

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Michelstaedter, Carlo, La persuasione e la rettorica, Ed. Sergio Campailla, Milano, Adelphi, 1982.

Pirandello, Luigi, L’umorismo e altri saggi, Ed. Enrico Ghidetti, Firenze, Giunti, 1994.

Rabaté Étienne, “Lecture de L’adversaire d’Emmanuel Carrère : le réel en mal de fiction”, Le goût du roman. Actes du colloque Narrativa du Francia : leggere il presente/ La prose française: lire le présent, Ed. Matteo Majorano, Bari, B.A. Graphis, 2002, pp. 120-133.

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Sitography

Grazioli, Luigi, “Fuori e dentro Il regno”, doppiozero, 30 marzo 2015, http://www.doppiozero.com/materiali/parole/emmanuel-carrere-fuori-e-dentro-il-regno (ultimo accesso 7/4/2016).

Tajani, Ornella, “Identità, tragico, agnosticismo. I regni di Emmanuel Carrère”, Nazione Indiana, 16 gennaio 2015, http://www.nazioneindiana.com/2015/01/16/identita-tragico-agnosticismo-i-regni-di-emmanuel-carrere/ (ultimo accesso: 7/4/2016).

Latronico, Vincenzo, “La frontiera porosa tra realtà e finzione”, 16 aprile 2015, L’Indice dei libri del mese, http://www.lindiceonline.com/incontri/interviste/emmanuel-carrere/ (ultimo accesso: 7/4/2016).

Published
2016-11-30
How to Cite
Cinquegrani, A. (2016). Irony or persuasion? The choice by Emmanuel Carrère in Le Royaume. Between, 6(12). https://doi.org/10.13125/2039-6597/2151
Section
With God or Against God, but Never without God. The Laugh in Writing (and Rewriting)