| Abstract [eng] |
The latest novel “The Refrain of Hunger” by a French writer, Nobel Prize winner J.M.G. Le Clézio (2008) is characterised by its unique structure. The title of the novel itself is metaphorical in nature because as an element of the paratext it draws the reader’s attention to hunger not only as a physiological phenomenon but to its indirect meaning related with more sublime aspirations. The novel is framed by two autobiographical episodes, one of which can be referred to as an introduction, the other as an epilogue. The introduction and the epilogue are connected by the motif of hunger. The main story of the novel is set between the introduction and the epilogue. The story develops in the third decade of the 20th c. and fi nishes just after World War II. The novel is comprised of three parts, named The Purple House, The Downfall and Silence. In the novel the writer opposes the parents’ (Alexander and Justin) fates against their daughter’s Ethel’s fate and this opposition becomes the base of the story. The fates take opposite directions because the parents experience harsh failures and their life deteriorates. Meanwhile Ethel does not give in to the misfortunes of life and manages her life herself. These two – the parents’ and daughter’s – fates signify two possibilities of life. As it turns out later, the writer seems to be creating a monument for his mother who resisted life asperities and against her own will became a hero. Ravel’s Bolero, symbolizing life and its possibilities, is opposed to the motive of hunger in the novel. |
