Abstract EN:

One of the accepted specificities of the Flaubertian writing process is its acute movement towards condensation. The collection of genetic documentation for Madame Bovary testifies to these elements deleted by Flaubert as he wrote. After providing a history and description of the different manuscripts, this thesis approaches them from the perspective of genetic criticism, as a pre-text, in order to identify the folios that will be considered as rough drafts and to determine the corpus with precision. As for the dissertation’s research subject, it is delineated by the particular definition provided of “deletion”. The second section of the study is devoted to identifying deleted elements corresponding to a narrative unit or more in the rough drafts of Madame Bovary. The method devised for this purpose allows an exhaustive list to be established by systematically examining the folios and comparing them with the published text. To allow full use of this list, the abandoned passages are presented schematically in the shape of fact sheets all following the same framework, which is based on the definition provided of deletion. Finally, the last section of the thesis approaches the results identified within the dynamics of the writing process. The internal dimension – the writing gesture – and the external dimension – the creative act – are both taken into account. The study confirms that deletion is a characteristic practice of Flaubert’s writing process and observes the actual writing of these abandoned passages. It then examines how they originally corresponded to the requirements of novel writing and analyses those that reveal a different style to that of the published text.