Uses of Animism in the Contemporary Novel : Representation and Function of Exchanges With the Animal World in «La Bête faramineuse», «La Grande Beune», and «Dormance»

Abstract

Building upon the anthropological categories developed by Philippe Descola, this article engages the crossing of the boundaries between humans and animals, while inquiring into the crossing of auxiliary ontological territories through fiction. The comparative reading of three novels by Pierre Bergounioux, Pierre Michon and Jean-Loup Trassard reveals a common appeal for hybridation, combining a dominant naturalist ontology with marginal animist representations. This ontological decentering is first grasped through an arrangement of marginal practices and rituals, carried by off-beat characters searching to propitiate a wildlife they believe fundamental for their own existence. While this hybridation surely contributes to question the dualism arising from the separation between nature and culture, it remains possible to investigate the scope of such hybridation, either from the slant of reception or aesthetic motivations of the authors.