Contenu du sommaire : Littérature et sciences sociales

René Lourau, Night Praxis The act of dreaming is interesting from a sociological perspective for at least two reasons. Firstly, it is a universal human activity. Secondly, this activity has historically been subject to many different interpretations. The work of Roger Bastide is fruitful in this regard, indicating that "literary" resources are also often useful, even more so in fact than the "scientific " resources of psychoanalysis or of neuropsychology.

Bernard Lacombe, The Reader as Anthropologist Narrative writing and the use of language are important in elucidating two related questions. Firstly, is it legitimate to give a literary form to the presentation of anthropological data ? Secondly, what conditions lend legitimacy to such literary expression ?

Catherine Fourgeau, From Ethnographical Narration to Fictional Writing : Towards the Practical Expression of Reality A classifiction of narrative forms presently used in anthropology shows that the ethnographical narration is both a formal and a fictional genre. In anthropology, it is possible for an author to use a narrative structure similar to that used in novels. However, the correspondances etablished between scientific and fictional procedures must allow the communication of the meaning of the observed data.

Jean-François Werner, Ethnography Stripped Bare by Writing Through the attempt to combine polyphony, personalized discourse and the question of intersubjectivity, the nature of ethnolographical knowledge can be shown to be intrinsically fragmentary. Gauging the public reaction to this work is revealing of how what is at issue in the use of a particular style of writing is as much the creative liberty of the researcher in a bureaucratic context as it is the political question of his or her social function.

Aline Gohard-Radenkovic, "Otherness " in Voyage Narratives Voyage narratives offer diverse insights, into the experience of cultural differences and about the perception of the other in space and time. The anthropological approach to the study of such texts reveals a "double " content : that of the history of the perception of the other from "unique " points of view, and that of a "hidden cultural text" representing an underlying expression of values and ideals characteristic of the time. This interplay of mirrors images between the "I" and the "other" requires a plural reading. underlying expression of values and ideals characteristic of the time. This interplay of mirrors images between the "I" and the "other" requires a plural reading.

Jacques La Mothe, The Aesthetics of Otherness in Contemporary Travel Writing The aim of this study is to show how contemporary travel writing breaks the rules of usage that have structured this "minor genre " and, instead of reproducing it, attempts to examine its components. Throughout the five volumes generically entitled Génie du lieu (The Spirit of Place), we have used the image of an Indian trail as the guiding thread leading us through a cycle of travel accounts taken from the work of the contemporary writer, Michel Butor. This approach allows the description to emerge through a generalized, comparative textuel analysis. The literary texte challenges traditional ethnographic description through its use in a critical context. This renewal of the genre fosters a fuller perception than that originally attempted, as well as a sharper awareness of the Other.

Jochen Vogt, Memory and Fiction : about a text by Anna Seghers With his interpretation of a text by Anna Seghers, which establishes how fiction affects upon individual and collective memory, Jochen Vogt joints into the current debate about cultural memory, as well as into the German dispute about memorials.

Robert Sayre and Michael Löwy, Réification and Conspicuous Consumption in "The Great Gatsby" Starting from the notion that literature can provide an irreplaceable, sui generis illumination of social reality, the article attempts to illustrate the proposition by examining what The Great Gatsby can bring to the understanding of those fundamental aspects of modern society analyzed by Marx/Lukács and Thorstein Veblen : réification and conspicuous consumption. The article demonstrates the presence of réification throughout the novel, the depth of its penetration in the character of Gatsby, and its partial occultation through the narrative point of view. The authors then explore the particular mode of réification in the "leisure class" constituted by conspicuous consumption, through a comparison of the novel with Veblen's analysis of the phenomenon.