“Une chasse aux souvenirs”: the mechanics of memory in autobiographical works of Michel Leiris
Abstract
This study examines the mechanics of memory as depicted in the works of Michel Leiris. Already in his first autobiographical work, L’Âge d’homme, Leiris adopts an innovative compositional technique, which is accompanied by a considerable development of his autobiographical discourse, through which he shows himself at work. But this discursive inflation is not to be left unquestioned, as it emphasises that remembrance is inevitably distorting, insofar as it reconstitutes the past from the narrator’s own perspective. However, from La Règle du jeu onwards, Leiris seems to embrace the idea of a free reinvention of memory. This is because in the meantime, in a genesis text entitled L’Homme sans honneur, he has laid the foundations for an original reflection on recollection and writing, which anticipates Philippe Lejeune’s later analyses.
Keywords:
Michel Leiris, autobiography, remembrance, discourse, presentReferences
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