Mythical Diachrony and Historical Memory in Pascal Quignard’s Essays

Abstract

Pascal Quignard retraces, in his Little Treaties, stories that happened yore and elsewhere. This unusual narration affects literary works as well as tales or myths. The article sets out to demonstrate first that the mythical diachrony represents for the French writer a certain way of conceiving historical memory. It seeks then to prove that the myth ensures the narrative articulation of the fragmentary work and the organization of its amorphous material. It tries to reveal, finally, that through the myth Quignard adheres to two traditions: by breaking the mythical circle, he inscribes himself in the modernity and its discontinuity; by the simple decision to reinterpret the tale, he falls back on his anti-modern positions.