Studies on the concrete motifs of masks, puppets and doublesin French fantastic literature

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In these studies on fantastic lierature, we aim to find a rational definition of the genre. We therefore deemed it necessary to incorporate non literary angles as diverse as possible: music, fine arts, apiritualism, sociology, etc. Our literary approach itself includes the pre- and para-fantastic corpus, i.e. the "merveilleux", be it written or oral, learned or popular.In order to manage this vast corpus, we resorted to this initial, classic criterium: "the intrusion of the supernatural in daily life". However, rather than ill-defined abstract notions, we have priviledged concrete motifs such as masks, puppets, and double images; Whenever a text presents no realistic description involving one of the afore-mentionned motifs, we consider it non fantastic. We believe that mere metaphysical and abstract reveries are not capable of shcoking society.As for fantastic characters, we looked for modern emissaries of Evil in all guises. They may be musicians swayed by the Dark Side; or labyrinthine urban setting permeated with the spirits of evil. We have even spotted such grimacing spirits lurking in the corners of paintings by Monet and Cezanne. We have been able to establish a list (as exhaustive as could be) of the texts in which a latent presence of Evil can be detected.In most cases, the author strives to describe the strangeness of the human being suffering from the cleavage of the self. Alle men are puppets in teh hands of Fate; but, modern men having done away with the Supreme Being, we do not feel "guides par les haleurs", but make-shift gods, mimicking reflexions of ourselves.