Diaries Real and Fictional in Twentieth-Century French Writing

Sam Ferguson

Oxford Modern Languages and Literature Monographs

The first historical account of the diary in French writing across the twentieth century
Crossover with related issues of life-writing, autobiography, and autofiction
Studies works by Andre Gide, Raymond Queneau, Roland Barthes, and Annie Ernaux
Citations given in French and English translation

Diaries Real and Fictional in Twentieth-Century French Writing

Sam Ferguson

Oxford Modern Languages and Literature Monographs

Description

This volume is the first study of the diary in French writing across the twentieth century, as a genre which includes both fictional and non-fictional works. From the 1880s it became apparent to writers in France that their diaries—a supposedly private form of writing —would probably come to be published, strongly affecting the way their readers viewed their other published works, and their very persona as an author. More than any other, Andre Gide embraced the literary potential of the diary: the first part of this book follows his experimentation with the diary in the fictional works Les Cahiers d'Andre Walter (1891) and Paludes (1895), in his diary of the composition of his great novel, Le Journal des faux-monnayeurs (1926), and in his monumental Journal 1889-1939 (1939).

The second part follows developments in diary-writing after the Second World War, inflected by radical changes in attitudes towards the writing subject. Raymond Queneau's works published under the pseudonym of Sally Mara (1947-1962) used the diary playfully at a time when the writing subject was condemned by the literary avant-garde. Roland Barthes's experiments with the diary (1977-1979) took it to the extremes of its formal possibilities, at the point of a return of the writing subject. Annie Ernaux's published diaries (1993-2011) demonstrate the role of the diary in the modern field of life-writing. Throughout the century, the diary has repeatedly been used to construct an oeuvre and author, but also to call these fundamental literary concepts into question.

Diaries Real and Fictional in Twentieth-Century French Writing

Sam Ferguson

Oxford Modern Languages and Literature Monographs

Introduction
Part I: Andre Gide's diary-writing
1. Les Cahiers d'Andre Walter
2. Paludes
3. Le Journal des Faux-monnayeurs
4. The Journal 1889-1939
Part II: Diary-writing after Gide
5. Raymond Queneau's OEuvres completes de Sally Mara
6. The Return of the diary in Barthes's 'Vita Nova'
7. Annie Ernaux: The place of the diary in modern life-writing
Conclusion

Diaries Real and Fictional in Twentieth-Century French Writing

Sam Ferguson

Oxford Modern Languages and Literature Monographs

Author Information

Sam Ferguson, Junior Research Fellow, Christ Church, University of Oxford

Sam Ferguson graduated from New College, Oxford, in French and Classics in 2008. In 2014 he completed a doctorate, also at New College, focusing on the history of the diary in French writing. During his doctorate he spent a year teaching as a lecteur at the Universite Paris Nanterre. He is a Junior Research Fellow at Christ Church, Oxford, and his research touches on various aspects of life-writing, and the works of Andre Gide and Roland Barthes. He also teaches on a range of French language and literature courses at Oxford University.

Diaries Real and Fictional in Twentieth-Century French Writing

Sam Ferguson

Oxford Modern Languages and Literature Monographs

Reviews and Awards

Shortlisted for the 2019 R. Gapper Book Prize for the best book in French Studies published in 2018

"In Diaries Real and Fictional in Twentieth-Century French Writing, Sam Ferguson opts for an altogether different approach." -- Arnaud Schmitt, University of Bordeaux, European Journal of Life Writing

"Ferguson's book offers a valuable study for diary-writing scholars, which explores fascinating issues also relevant to life-writing in general...meticulous research, insightful analysis and overall quality of a volume which is a welcome contribution to French diary-writing studies." -- Sylvie Lannegrand, NUI Galway, H-France

"Ferguson succeeds brilliantly in the task of studying diary writing as a complex and plural practice, both rooted in a dynamic of transmission and influence in the literary field, and open to possibilities of transgression and renewal. Through a judicious use of bibliographical sources and a particularly attentive reading of the texts, especially in their margins, variations, and internal contradictions, Ferguson illuminates in a remarkable way the richness of the diary as a literary text, an object of research, and a point of articulation of various theoretical and practical questions." -- AutoFiction

"Ferguson's book offers a valuable study for diary-writing scholars, which explores fascinating issues also relevant to life-writing in general. ...[the] meticulous research, insightful analysis and overall quality of a volume ... is a welcome contribution to French diary-writing studies." -- Sylvie Lannegrand, H-France Review