Vies parallèles des hommes insignifiants, par Marcel Aymé

  1. Jiménez, Pedro Pardo
Journal:
Études littéraires

ISSN: 1708-9069,  0014-214X

Year of publication: 2013

Volume: 44

Issue: 1

Pages: 93-101

Type: Article

DOI: 10.7202/1018468AR GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: Études littéraires

Abstract

Marcel Aymé’s novels use adventure as a tool for the author to offer his characters a possible life other than their own, an alternative either sought out without success as a means to escape the mediocrity of their actual life or experienced as a cumbersome supernatural existence. The philosophy arising from the confrontation of parallel lives thusly suggests both resignation and scepticism: a person cannot — or, respectively, will not — escape his existence. Daily life is too valuable an asset to risk on ephemeral projects that could only further fuel the instability of the unknown. Rather than wishing to be what one is not or is no longer, the wisest course of action is to embrace one’s destiny, a destiny that, ultimately, cannot be changed. While characteristic of Marcel Aymé, this approach may also reflect his times, back when one merely hoped to live, let alone live happy adventures.

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