A sociological reading of self-dominancy in contemporary French Literature

The contemporary French literature beholds the considerable presence of works which frankly speak of the writer’s “self”. The trinal circles of writer-character-narrator triangle is mixed and created a current of literature dominated by the “First person”. Many critics believe this matter demonstrates the dominance if “Individualism” in today’s society. Meaning, an individual society which places a lot of importance on the individual, has caused the formation of individualistic writings by valuing the individual. In the meanwhile, some social analysts reject the individualistic perspective in the contemporary era and on the contrary consider today’s society very collectivistic. Studying contemporary literary works and analyzing the role and position of the “single first person” among this period’s writers illustrates that the presence of “self” in this current is not always a sign of the work being individualistic and today’s writings in the French literature are more self-dominant than individualistic. This article is a sociological reading of the presence of the first person in contemporary French novel with the goal of displaying an image of current French society beyond the literary works of this country. An image which is in the end a combination of individuality and society in the framework of literature which is embodied in the integrated narrative of the writer’s “self”.