The animal eye in Claude Simon’s novels

Abstract

The motif of the animal eye is recurrent in Claude Simon’s novels, whether it is on the occasion of the encounter with an animal by a human character who "sees himself seen", or in a comparison that gives animal qualities to an human being. The eye, "seen instead of seeing", is an interface of contact with the animal, enigmatic and unpredictable figure of absolute otherness, but it also becomes a mirror for the human character, who recognizes his own image. Finally, the narrator may detect an animal trait in the characters’ eyes ; far from being limited to a form of anthropozoomorphic caricature, this animalization of the human look, coupled with a humanization of the animal gaze, testifies to the porosity of the borders drawn by our author between the human species and animal species.