L’œil du démiurge : une poétique du regard dans la fiction de Steven Millhauser
From his first novels to his latest collection of short stories, American writer Steven Millhauser has been confronting his fiction to what he identifies as "the general invisibility of the world". According to the author, "the world is there, presenting itself to us ceaselessly, and...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Presses Universitaires du Midi
2016-10-01
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| Series: | Caliban: French Journal of English Studies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/caliban/5777 |
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| Summary: | From his first novels to his latest collection of short stories, American writer Steven Millhauser has been confronting his fiction to what he identifies as "the general invisibility of the world". According to the author, "the world is there, presenting itself to us ceaselessly, and yet it remains largely invisible. […] We walk through a world continually disappearing from view. One thing fiction does is restore the hidden and vanishing world". In some of his stories, the reference to ghosts aims precisely at highlighting this hidden and vanishing world, laying the emphasis on the personal and collective responsibility attached to gaze and vision. Indeed, some characters end up literally dis-appearing for want of attention. As a consequence, many narrators consider attention an ethical responsibility. The ethical question becomes a "poethical" one when some creators try to use their art as an answer to the inevitable disappearance of the world. For them, attention becomes a demiurgic act, embodying their "refusal not to be God" ("The Fascination of the Miniature", 131). |
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| ISSN: | 2425-6250 2431-1766 |