Benjamin Fondane par ses manuscrits. Génétique et poétique

This dissertation entitled Benjamin Fondane through his manuscripts. Genetics and poetic aims to shed new light on Benjamin Fondane’s manuscripts. Here we took into consideration any form of “avant-texte” which contributed to the realization of the final text: drafts, typescripts, annotations, remarks, correspondence or other genetic resources. The critical methodologies applied to this work correspond to the poetical and the genetical approach. The genetical approach allowed us to enlighten and clarify the book-making process. The accurate study of the manuscripts allows us to define the main genetic features of a poetic in which the most important peculiarities of the writing are being put into place. In short, this is about analysing the poetic of an incomplete and unfinished work. In the first part of this dissertation, we made a brief historical point to the genetical critics and a presentation of Benjamin Fondane’s archives. In the second part, we reconstructed the various phases of writing of the poetry collection Le Mal des fantômes. We considered the deleted text and the space in Benjamin Fondane’s manuscripts, the style and the exogenetic process which progressively metamorphoses into endogenetic. Finally, the third part of the dissertation was dedicated to the existential poetic of the author. Starting from the two versions of Faux Traité d’esthétique (1925 and 1938), we investigated the poetry, the art and the very essence of the artistic creation. This dissertation contributes to the enrichment of the studies that lead to the genetic criticism applied to Benjamin Fondane’s manuscripts.