FRENCH LAUGHTER This page intentionally left blank FRENCH LAUGHTER LITERARY HUMOUR FROM DIDEROT TO TOURNIER WALTER REDFERN 1 1 GreatClarendonStreet,Oxfordox26dp OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwidein Oxford NewYork Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong Karachi KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto Withofficesin Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress intheUKandincertainothercountries PublishedintheUnitedStates byOxfordUniversityPressInc.,NewYork WalterRedfern2008 Themoralrightsoftheauthorhasbeenasserted DatabaserightOxfordUniversityPress(maker) Firstpublished2008 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced, storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans, withoutthepriorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress, orasexpresslypermittedbylaw,orundertermsagreedwiththeappropriate reprographicsrightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproduction outsidethescopeoftheaboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment, OxfordUniversityPress,attheaddressabove Youmustnotcirculatethisbookinanyotherbindingorcover andyoumustimposethesameconditiononanyacquirer BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Dataavailable TypesetbyLaserwordsPrivateLimited,Chennai,India PrintedinGreatBritain onacid-freepaperby BiddlesLtd.,King’sLynn,Norfolk ISBN978–0–19–923757–9 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Acknowledgements I owe a debt of gratitude to Terence Cave and John Parkin for their cross-talking with my parrots, to Geoffrey Bremner dialoguing with myDiderot,andtomywifeAngelaforkeepingstepbystepwithme throughoutmyenjoyableresearchandwritingofthisbook. Thankfully, I have no need to express gratitude to any body for financial assistance, as I sought little and obtained zilch. Far more importantly, I do want to thank from the bottom of my semi-bionic heartallthehundredsofunpaidworkerswhoseideasIhavehijacked. Wheneverconscious,Ihaveadmitteddebts.Thefactremainsthatthis book is my personal statement on humour, whether French literary, or everyone’s. Some might think that I have made things difficult formyselfby selecting authorsperhaps not primarily knownfor their humour.Ihavedonesobecauseofalifelongandprofoundconviction thathumourcanbefoundinthelesslikelyplaces. Parts of Chapters4–9 were previously published in: John Parkin and John Phillips (eds), Language and Power (Lang, 2006); Language and Communication; Jane Taylor etal. (eds.), The Anatomy of Laughter (Legenda, 2005); French Studies; John Parkin (ed.), French Humour (Rodopi, 1999); and the Modern Language Review, respectively. I wish to thank all these editors for permission to reproduce such material. W.R. This page intentionally left blank Contents Abbreviations viii Promises,Promises 1 1. TheLaughingPhilosopher:Diderot 8 RiffonLaughter 39 2. TheQuestionofHumourlessness(Rousseau,Sade,God, andBrisset) 44 RiffonDreams 60 3. Huysmans:Back-to-Front,andBackpacking 62 4. ALittleBirdTellsUs:ParrotsinFlaubert,Queneau, Beckett (andTuttiQuanti) 80 5. BlagueHard!Valle`s 105 RiffonBlackHumour 118 6. UppingtheAnti/e:ExaggerationinCe´lineandValle`s 120 RiffonPolitics 132 7. Droˆledephilosophie:Sartre 138 8. BadJokesandBeckett 161 RiffonTaste 176 9. Approximating Man:Michel Tournier’sPlaywith Language 180 Inconclusion 204 Notes 211 Bibliography 233 Index 241 Abbreviations Place of publication for works in English is London and for works in FrenchParis,except wherestatedotherwise. Bach. Valle´s,LeBachelier,inŒuvres,ed.R.Bellet(Gallimard, 1990),ii CDW Beckett,CompleteDramaticWorks(Faber,1990) CP Valle`s,LeCandidatdespauvres,inSEP CS Tournier,Desclefsetdesserrures(Cheˆne/Hachette,1979) CSP Beckett,CollectedShorterProse(Calder,1988) DFMW Beckett,DreamofFairtoMiddlingWomen(Calder,1996) Dis. Beckett,Disjecta,ed.R.Cohn(Calder,1983) EC Tournier,‘L’Espacecanadien’,LaNouvelleCritique,105 (1977),52 Enf. Valle`s,L’Enfant,inŒuvres,ed.R.Bellet(Gallimard, 1990),ii Exp. Beckett,TheExpelledandotherNovellas(Penguin,1980) First Beckett,FirstLove(Penguin,1995) Inn. SeeUnn./Inn. Ins. Valle`s,L’Insurge´,inŒuvres,ed.R.Bellet(Gallimard, 1990),ii GJ Tournier,GillesetJeanne(Gallimard,1983) L Tournier,‘Unelogiquecontreventsetmare´es’,La NouvelleCritique,105(1977),47–50 M Tournier,LesMe´te´ores(Gallimard,1975) Mal. Beckett,MaloneDies,inMolloy,MaloneDies,The Unnamable(Calder,1959);Frenchversion:Malone meurt(Unionge´ne´raled’e´ditions,1951) Merc. Beckett,MercierandCamier(Picador,1988);French version:MercieretCamier(Minuit,1970) Moll. Beckett,Molloy(NewYork:Grove,1970);French version(Unionge´ne´raled’e´ditions,1963) abbreviations ix Mur. Beckett,Murphy(NewYork:Grove,1957) Proust Beckett,Proust(NewYork:Grove,1931) RA Tournier,LeRoidesaulnes(Gallimard,1970) SEP Valle`s,Souvenirsd’une´tudiantpauvre(E´diteursfranc¸ais re´unis,1972) TC Tournier,‘TreizeCle´spourunogre’,LeFigarolitte´raire, 30November1970,pp.20–2 Unn./Inn. Beckett,TheUnnamable(NewYork:Grove,1970); Frenchversion:L’Innommable(Minuit,1953) V Tournier,Vendredi,ouLesLimbesdupacifique,postfaceby GillesDeleuze(Gallimard,1967) VD Tournier,Vuesdedos(Gallimard,1981) VP Tournier,LeVentParaclet(Gallimard,1977) VV Tournier,LeVolduvampire(MercuredeFrance,1981) Watt Beckett,Watt(Calder,1963) Worst. Beckett,WorstwardHo,inNohowOn(Calder,1992)