La symbolique maternelle dans quatre romans de Françoise Mallet-Joris

Abstract

So far, Françoise Mallet-Joris has been categorized either as a Cathonc novelist or as a moderate feminist. Accused of conservatism by some, perceived by others as immoral, she has been considerablv underrated by a critical audience anxious to maintain traditional literary categories. This thesis attemps to demonstrate that faith and feminism, far from conflicting with each other, are linked in Mallet-Joris work with the process of writing, thus forming a triple entity where the common denominator is the theme of maternity. This theme will be analysed in four of Mallet-Joris' novels. Les Mensonges, Les Signes et les Prodiges, Allenra, and La Tristesse du Cerf-Volant, using a symbolic approach whose usefulness lies in the twofold defînition of a symbol as, on the one hand, a materialisation of the inexpressible and on the other, a split unity. For the temporal modality and the concept of identity inherent in the maternal experience place it outside the narrative system, thus putting any author who wishes to tackle this area in the position of either inventing a new narrative form or attempting a compromise between already existing forms and the specific content of the maternal experience. It is this latter alternative that Françoise Mallet-Joris adopts. Although as far as form is concerned, Mallet-Joris can hardly be termed innovative, she demonstrates on an ideological plane an originality which is largely îhe product of using the symbol of the Virgin Mary as an intermediary between the maternai experience and the symbolic order.