Le roman familial dans l'oeuvre de thomas clayton wolfe

The family romance in the works of thomas clayton wolfe

• Auteur / Autrice : Amélie Moisy
• Direction : Jean-Loup Bourget
• Type : Thèse de doctorat
• Discipline(s) : Études nord-américaines
• Date : Soutenance en 1997
• Etablissement(s) : Paris 3

Résumé

Selon freud, le roman familial, dans lequel chaque enfant se rend etranger a sa famille, est un fantasme a scenarios multiples dont le but principal est, paradoxalement, de restituer la toute-puissance initiale des parents et la satisfaction originelle de l'enfant. Dans son oeuvre centree sur la famille, thomas wolfe s'inspire de sa propre experience; des traces de ses premier fantasmes y figurent. Son ambivalence envers sa famille remonte-t-elle a des conflits datant du roman familial d'enfance? wolfe est l'enfant perdu du roman familial, qui n'a jamais su recouvrer l'unitee desiree. Il se voyait en heros combatif, seul dans l'existence, et cherchant l'union avec un pere idealise. Par l'ecriture, wolfe recherchait des groupes familiaux plus satisfaisants. Il se creait des familles de substitution, tout en elevant sa famille reelle. Mais il s'est heurte a l'incomprehension de ses proches et de la critique. Le sentiment de perte qui marque la prose de wolfe est peut-etre typique de l'epoque a laquelle il ecrivait. Il idealisait les parents de la petite enfance et leur amerique, tout en critiquant ce qu'ils etaient devenus. Avant de mourir, s'etait-il libere des liens qui le forcaient a se repeter, ou se cherchait-il encore comme auteur et comme individu? le roman familial nous eclaire sur tous ces points; il pourrait meme aider a resoudre le mystere du style particulier de wolfe.

The family romance, a fantasy identified by freud in which each child imagines himself a stranger to his family, has various scenarios. Their main purpose, freud argues, is, paradoxically, to restore parents to their initial, all-powerful status and the dreamer to that of a satisfied child. Thomas wolfe used much autobiographical material in his family-centered works, and traces of his family romance fantasies remain. Might his ambivalence toward his family be explained by conflicts dating from the first fantasies in childhood? varied though wolfe's fantasies were, he emerges as the lost boy of the family romance, who never recovered the unity he strove for. He saw himself as an agonistic hero, alone in the world, mystically searching for a father. Through writing, wolfe sought to create a more satisfactory family-type group. Wherever possible, he strove to create new family contexts, and to elevate his real family. But his authority was often undermined by his contemporaries. The feeling of loss that pervades wolfe's writing could be a sign of the changing times he lived in. He idealized the parents of his childhood and the america they knew, while deriding what they had become. Before dying, did he cast off the ties that bound him to repetitive patterns, or was he still searching for his true self as author and person? the family romance myth sheds light on all these considerations. Moreover, it may come close to solving the mystery of the idiosyncratic wolfe style.