French Literature Reviews - 2026
V. Ferré, L’Essai fictionnel. Essai et roman chez Proust, Broch, Dos Passos
Comparative and World Literature
Review published in Acta Fabula (February-March 2016, vol. 17, no. 2): "The Essay in the Novel and an Exemplary Case of Generic Hybridization: The Fictional Essay" by Guido Mattia Gallerani.
***
Vincent Ferré, L’Essai fictionnel. Essai et roman chez Proust, Broch, Dos Passos
Honoré Champion, "Recherches proustiennes" series, no. 25, 2013.
576 p., paperback
EAN13: 9782745325198
65 EUR
Read an excerpt in the Atelier de théorie littéraire.
Publisher's overview:
This study focuses on three novels—Marcel Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu, Hermann Broch's Die Schlafwandler (The Sleepwalkers), and John Dos Passos's U.S.A.—which are so deeply marked by the presence of theory that they have often been seen as challenging "the traditional balance of the novelistic form." Conversely, this book demonstrates the inherently fictional nature of passages generally categorized as "essays" (or "philosophy") by critics.
The study first examines the reasons behind this assimilation by comparing essays published in Germany, America, and France between 1910 and 1930 with the essayistic passages in the three novels. It concludes that their points of convergence do not warrant treating these theoretical interludes as belonging to a genre distinct from the works that contain them. The author then proposes viewing these essayistic sequences as fictional essays. Their fictionality is brought to light by examining their governing rules, the interaction between diegetic and essayistic passages, the examples drawn from the narrative by the essayistic sequences, and the emergence of a singular, fictional narrative voice that orchestrates both the fictional story and the essayistic discourse. This sheds new light on the stakes of the fictional essay, which emerges as a necessity in À la recherche du temps perdu, Die Schlafwandler (The Sleepwalkers), and U.S.A. due to its engagement with modernity and the contemporary era, its drive toward totalization, and its capacity to approach knowledge through its very fictional nature.
Consult the table of contents online (web + PDF)
A former student of ENS Fontenay/Saint-Cloud, Vincent Ferré is a Professor of General and Comparative Literature at UPEC (Université Paris Est Créteil), a member of the LIS research team (Lettres, Idées, Savoirs) and the Fabula group. His research explores the intersections of the novel and philosophy, literary genres, and the presence of the Middle Ages (medievalism) in the 20th and 21st centuries across American and European literature.
The intersection of narrative fiction and discursive prose has long engaged scholars studying the boundaries of literary genres and the evolution of narrative forms during the early twentieth century. Critical traditions often distinguish between the structural demands of storytelling and the direct exposition of ideas, particularly when analyzing works that incorporate extensive reflections on history, art, or society. The formal interplay between narrative structures and theoretical commentary reflects broader modernist inquiries into the capacity of prose writing to encompass complex intellectual systems while maintaining its imaginative coherence.
Vincent Ferré investigates the presence of theory in Marcel Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu, Hermann Broch's Die Schlafwandler (The Sleepwalkers), and John Dos Passos's U.S.A.. The study examines essays published in France, Germany, and America between 1910 and 1930 to compare them with essayistic passages in the three novels, demonstrating the inherently fictional nature of these theoretical interludes. Readers interested in comparative literature and generic hybridization may find this volume relevant.