Robbe-Grillet's Rendering of Human Experience in Film and Fiction

ABSTRACT.The results of the current study converge with prior research on the depiction of sexuality in his film and fiction, the destabilizing of the narrative world in Robbe-Grillet's novels, the role played by objects in the work of Robbe-Grillet, and Robbe-Grillet's professed non-committed political stance. Our paper contributes to the literature by providing evidence on the fragmentary and contradictory structure of Robbe-Grillet's novels, the complexities of Robbe-Grillet's works, Robbe-Grillet's formal strategies of describing objects without pre-established meaning, and his break with the novelistic devices of the past.Keywords: Robbe-Grillet, human experience, film, fiction1. IntroductionIn the present paper, I focus on the question of narrative perspective in Voyeur, Robbe-Grillet's use of objective correlatives, the justification for Robbe-Grillet's technique of objets-supports or correlatifs-exterieurs, and the friction between textual description and optical image in Le mannequin. The mainstay of the paper is formed by an analysis of the problematics of Robbe-Grillet's interhuman relationship, Robbe-Grillet's theory of description, the optical system of Le mannequin, and Robbe-Grillet's choice of narrative perspective in his novels. In this paper I am particularly interested in exploring Robbe-Grillet's insistence upon the cleansing power of vision, his refusal to go beyond an examination of the surface of things, his interest in the portrayal of phenomena as perceived, and the value of a phenomenological reading of Robbe-Grillet.2. Understanding Robbe-Grillet's Formal Strategies as Effecting a Fictional or Cinematic Form of ReductionNewton holds that the Nouveau Roman period of Robbe-Grillet's work represents a change in terms of its consciously self-reflexive play of forms. The Nouveau Roman describes events from a human perspective which can only narrate what is experienced at any one time. Nouveaux romans are always narrated from a human point of view. Robbe-Grillet's earliest films and novels follow the mental processes of one or more characters1 (their perceptions focus upon objects, filtered through a disturbed or obsessed mind). Robbe-Grillet argues for a return to objects themselves. An empty chair is merely an object.The point here is that Robbe-Grillet proposes to rid objects in literature of deceitful metaphoric devices, in favor of descriptions of objects as simple objects. Vision removes the apparent psychological depth which surrounds objects in the realist novel, allowing their surfaces to be described, so that objects as they really are may be laid bare. Objects are described just as objects, and are described from a human perspective. Such a subversion of literary conventions can be explained by the process of phenomenological reduction. Objects as they appear in perception are never entirely stripped of their cultural significance, having a meaning for the consciousness that perceives them. Certain objects become associated with the character's state of mind (the millipede in La Jalousie becomes associated with adultery). The association of objects and emotions does not rely on analogies of form and function (Robbe-Grillet allows no anthropomorphic metaphors in his fiction). The objects described are always viewed from a human point of view. Newton claims that Robbe-Grillet's work contains objects which are without obvious significance. The viewpoint of the narrative or the angle of the camera is that of a human being.One thing that is clear is that phenomenology addresses the way in which Robbe-Grillet renders, in filmic or fictional terms, the embodiment of consciousness. Newton states that Robbe-Grillet's films and novels center upon one or more characters through whose embodied consciousness objects in the world are mediated, the bodies of the protagonists forming the center points for his narratives. These bodies are already in the world of cultural significance that they cannot shake off. …