Title: Andreï Makine et la cognition humaine. Pour une transbiographie
Author, co-author: Mistreanu, Diana
Abstract: This dissertation proposes a systematic analysis of Andreï Makine’s oeuvre. We read his prose through the prism of cognitive literary studies, a recent theoretical and methodological field which explores the interaction between literary interpretation on the one hand, and the human brain and mind on the other. We focus on the depiction of the affect, the imagination and the limits of cognition, while pinpointing, at the same time, the narrative techniques and the stylistic devices that contribute to create a work whose goal is not only to illustrate reality, but also to transfigure it. Thus, we analyse Makine’s novels from a dynamic perspective, asking what impact they could have on the reader, and proposing an innovative hypothesis concerning the relation between the author's biography and his literary output. According to this hypothesis, the writer’s work is not autobiographical (according to Philippe Lejeune’s definition of the concept of autobiography) nor autofictional (Vincent Colonna), and it requires the coining of a new concept able to define it. We call this concept – which consists of the conscious and recurrent recreation of a meaningful biographical event through fiction – a “transbiography”.
Author, co-author: Mistreanu, Diana
Abstract: This dissertation proposes a systematic analysis of Andreï Makine’s oeuvre. We read his prose through the prism of cognitive literary studies, a recent theoretical and methodological field which explores the interaction between literary interpretation on the one hand, and the human brain and mind on the other. We focus on the depiction of the affect, the imagination and the limits of cognition, while pinpointing, at the same time, the narrative techniques and the stylistic devices that contribute to create a work whose goal is not only to illustrate reality, but also to transfigure it. Thus, we analyse Makine’s novels from a dynamic perspective, asking what impact they could have on the reader, and proposing an innovative hypothesis concerning the relation between the author's biography and his literary output. According to this hypothesis, the writer’s work is not autobiographical (according to Philippe Lejeune’s definition of the concept of autobiography) nor autofictional (Vincent Colonna), and it requires the coining of a new concept able to define it. We call this concept – which consists of the conscious and recurrent recreation of a meaningful biographical event through fiction – a “transbiography”.