The 'double movement' : parody in the work of Alain Robbe-Grillet, with particular reference to Un Régicide

Abstract

This thesis is entitled ‘The "double movement”: parody in the work of Alain Robbe-Grillet, with particular reference to Un Régicide’.The principle objective of the thesis is to illustrate how a re-assessment of Pour un nouveau roman (1963) can explain the reasons behind the paradox of Robbe-Grillet's fiction and lead, consequently, to the reader's appreciation of the tension between meaning and meaninglessness in his novels. The thesis sets about this task in the following way: firstly, it examines the existing confusion over Pour un nouveau roman, and exposes the analytical weaknesses of both established interpretations of Robbe-Grillet's theory. Secondly, a new perspective of Pour un nouveau roman is offered - one which underlines the central significance of the paradoxical movement between the creation and destruction of meaning as outlined in the compilation. Next, this 'double movement' is identified as inherent to all literature, engaged in the dual process of textual assimilation and dissimilation. The self-conscious, ludic nature of the 'double mouvement de creation et de gommage' of Un Régicide is revealed to be essentially that of parody, since the reconstruction of past literary material within its narrative is later exposed and destroyed. Robbe-Grillet's first novel, rich in literary allusions and references, is a particularly dramatic conflict between the forms which it incorporates and their imminent subversion. In this sense, Un Régicide is seen to constitute the paradox of ail Robbe-Grillet's writing, in which the initial creation of meaning leads, through the deferral of a single, determinate significance, to an ultimate deception.