Abstract EN:

The present study accounts for the emergence, within the contemporary French 'roman noir', of a particular social group, and reports on how it evolves according to the various stakes, pressures and values involved. This explains why we do not question the literary genre in the formal features of its classification, but rather by interviewing the very members of the group. We hereby point out that the group emerges from a backdrop which includes a few interrelated factors : by identifying with the American thriller and its image of a 'social' novel, ie realistic and socially committed, the group attempts at disproving Mainstream Literature's allegation that they be a minor form of literature. And yet, what emerges from the interviews of the group is that not everyone agrees over the issues of political involvement and dissension with so-called 'white' literature. When investigating , gathering clues sleuth-wise, those are precisely the ambiguities and contradictions that we sought to clear up, from the very words of the writers interviewed, so as to reveal the ways and purposes of the group.