Beyond the Procedure: the Katabasis as Structural Basis for «Locus Solus» by Raymond Roussel
Abstract
In this article the structure of the novel Locus solus (1914) by Raymond Roussel is analyzed. Although through this novel the novelist wanted to illustrate his famous “procedure”, it is argued that the story can be equated phenomenologically to the conventions of the classical episode of the catabasis. The main section of this groundbreaking novel includes eight tableaux-vivants where dead people, artificially brought back to life by the main character (Martial Canterel), enact repeatedly the crucial instants of their lives. The complex geography of “Hell”, the presence of a wise guide, and the fact that the dead of the tableaux experience feelings and attitudes reminiscent of those experienced by them during their lives evoke motifs already present in the nékyia of Ulysses (Odyssey XI), the catabasis of Aeneas (Aeneid VI) and Dante's Divine Comedy.
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