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« Le desert Progresse » : Mirages Postmodernes De L'Ouest americain Dans Les Fictions francaises Et quebecoises = "The Desert Advances": Postmodern Mirages of the American West in French and Quebec Fiction Marie Bellec
- Format:
- Book
- Thesis/Dissertation
- Author/Creator:
- Bellec, Marie, author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- French literature.
- French Canadian literature.
- European studies.
- 0205.
- 0355.
- 0440.
- Local Subjects:
- French literature.
- French Canadian literature.
- European studies.
- 0205.
- 0355.
- 0440.
- Physical Description:
- 1 electronic resource (171 pages)
- Contained In:
- Dissertations Abstracts International 86-12A
- Place of Publication:
- Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, 2025
- Language Note:
- English
- Summary:
- This dissertation examines the representation of the American desert in contemporary French and Quebecois fiction, where it is often portrayed as an expanding, destabilizing force that overwhelms the narrative space. It investigates how Francophone authors engage with this landscape through a postmodern lens that reflects anxieties about American cultural and geopolitical dominance, while also exploring the desert as a space for narrative experimentation. The analysis engages with how the notion of desertification shifts from its colonial connotations - tied to France's civilizing mission in the Sahara - to a broader metaphor for environmental collapse and civilizational decline. Drawing on narratological, comparative, and ecocritical methodologies, this study identifies recurring textual strategies, including narrative embedding, the aesthetics of the abyss, and the destabilization of linear temporality. It situates the desert as a narrative and geographic interstice, where Hollywood influence, colonial legacies, and European sensibilities intersect to form a network of aesthetic and ideological tensions. The findings reveal that Francophone fiction moves beyond a simple rivalry with U.S. cultural production, shifting from initial postmodern estrangement to a more autonomous reappropriation of the desert, especially in the Quebecois context, where decolonial and ecological concerns reshape the desert imaginary
- Notes:
- Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 86-12, Section: A.
- Advisors: Met, Philippe Committee members: Goulet, Andrea; Prince, Gerald
- Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania 2025
- Local Notes:
- School code: 0175
- ISBN:
- 9798280757158
- Access Restriction:
- Restricted for use by site license
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