Abstract EN:

Les effets surprenants de la sympathie and la voiture embourbee have not been always believed to be by marivaux, and critics disagree about the composition of the novels and the intentions of marivaux. The investigation in chronology and editions demonstrate that marivaux has probably written without interruption his firt novel, and that it had known, as well as la voiture embourbee, a moderate succes. The crisis of the novel, at the begining of the eighteenth century, lead marivaux and his contemporaries to find a new technique to the novel. Though the narrative techniques seem to be archaic in les effets surprenants de la sympathie (structure, incidents, chance, beginnings in medias res, complexity of the plots, intercalated narrations), marivaux creates a more modern game between authors, narrators and addressees; he integrates into his novel an anthor who addresses to a lady. The apostrophes to his lady reveal the critical consciousness of the novelist who justifies himself for the techniques he uses, and who comments upon the behaviour of his heroes. The novel is ambiguous because the novelist sometimes appears to be dissimulated, hidden hehind the fortune, the explantory parenthesis and the edifying digressions, sometimes appears more obviously while confessing his omissions or showing off his omnipotence. In la voiture embourbee marivaux derides the romance in le roman impromptu: the parody is all the more efficient than marivaux gives a realistic frame to the roman impromptu. He elaborates the technique of a new style of realism, different from the burlesque one. The originality of the structure is conveyed by the tight link estaplished between the frame and the roman impromptu : the genre of the travel relation leads marivaux to introduce characters whose personnality is revealed through their contribution to the improvised narration. Marivaux puts the narrator among the other travellers, so that a comment upon the narration can be introduced in the narration itself. In this novel marivaux tests the novelist powers while breaking the illusion; he gives the key in the preface: all is mere fiction.