Lewis Carroll en France (1870-1985) : les ambivalences d'une réception littéraire
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Abstract EN:
The reception given to lewis carroll's work in france is an ambivalent one, reflecting the contrast between two types of readers. Between 1870 and 1910, lewis carroll is practically unknown, and those who knew him thought of him as a children's writer, the author of alice in wonderland. In fact, it was not until 1930 that a change occurred, and under the decisive influence of the surrealists, lewis carroll started being read by adults. From that date on, the reception of lewis carroll in france is the conflictual history of a wide following of children on one hand, and a small number of adult " connaisseurs " on the other. After having outlined the various stages of this reception and analysed its social and cultural dimensions, the present study examines the possible distortions due to the translations into french. Taking as evidence first alice in wonderland, then other texts, the author shows that the various re-writings (such as translations or adaptations for children) as well as the treatment to which the original illustrations are submitted by the subsequent publishers, allow us to assess how carroll was read and received by successive generations of readers. Finally this study examines the process of cultural assimilation through the emergence of critical analyses and intertextual borrowings. The former helps to understand the dual nature of carroll's french readership while the latter serves to underline his contemporary relevance.
Abstract FR:
La presence de lewis carroll dans la culture francaise est profondement marquee par l'ambivalence de sa reception entre deux publics, celui des enfants et celui des adultes. De 1870 a 1910, lewis carroll est quasiment un inconnu et sa petite notoriete a la veille de la guerre est celle d'un ecrivain pour enfants, auteur d'alice au pays des merveilles. Le tournant se situe en 1930, quand, sous l'impulsion decisive des surrealistes, il devient lecture d'adultes. Desormais, l'histoire francaise de carroll sera celle de cette appropriation double et conflictuelle entre un large public d'enfants et un etroit public d'adultes avertis. Apres avoir defini les etapes de cette reception et en avoir analyse les composentes socio-culturelles, l'auteur analyse les inflechissements de lecture lies a l'acte de traduction. Prenant appui d'abord sur alice's adventures in wonderland, puis sur d'autres textes, il montre que les diverses reecritures (traductions, adaptations pour enfants), mais aussi la conservation, la suppression ou la substitution de nouvelles illustrations aux gravures originales permettent de cerner comment carroll fut lu et recu par chaque public, a chaque generation successive. Enfin l'auteur etudie les deux grands modes d'appropriation culturelle que sont la constitution d'un discours critique autonome et la reutilisation intertextuelle. Le premier eclaire cette qualite des publics qui est au coeur de l'oeuvre; le second souligne combien lewis carroll est pour nous un "contemporain".