The writer and society : social discourse in French literature, from the 18th century to the present

Étudier le rapport entre les arts, plus particulièrement entre la littérature et la sociologie n’a rien de nouveau de nos jours. Pourtant c’est une discipline qui s’est développée plutôt à partir de XIXème siècle et qui a pris de l’ampleur au XXème siècle avec l’apparition des sciences sociales. Dans ma thèse, je veux rendre compte du dialogue entre la littérature et la sociologie et pas forcément de faire une sociologie de la littérature. Je veux montrer de quelle façon la sociologie s’est inspirée des œuvres littéraires au point d’en faire un support pratique pour les théories sur la vie sociale, mais aussi de quelle façon les œuvres littéraires rendent compte par leur contenu des habitudes d’une époque, voire du monde social qui entourait les écrivains au moment de leurs créations littéraires. Afin de rendre compte de ce dialogue entre la littérature et la sociologie j’ai choisi de m’appuyer sur quelques œuvres de la littérature française du VIIIème siècle jusqu’à la littérature contemporaine. À partir de Montesquieu jusqu’à Annie Ernaux, je voudrais faire le point sur une des interactions les plus riches entre la sociologie et la littérature, tout en étudiant les relations entre les sciences humaines et le champ littéraire. Étudier ce dialogue entre la littérature et la sociologie a des enjeux sensibles, surtout de nos jours où les universités revoient leur cursus : il en va du statut de la littérature comme discipline à part entière, mais aussi du statut de la sociologie qui, comme la littérature remplit finalement la fonction de raconter la vie. Studying the relationship between arts, especially between literature and sociology it’s very commun nowadays. Sociology is a discipline that developped with the begining of the nineteenth century and reached it’s thoroughness in the twentieth century with the merge of social sciences. In my thesis, I want to stress out the dialogue between literature and sociology, without falling into a sociology of littérature or vice versa. I want to show how sociology inspired from literary works using them as a practical support for its theories on social life, but also how literary works Mirror by their containts the habits of and era, the social environment of writers at that time. In order to do that, I have chosen to base my analysis on some French literary works begining with the eighteenth century untill nowadays. From Montesquieu to Annie Eranux I would like to point out the more fertile interactions between literature and sociology, while analyzing the relations between social sciences and the literary field. My subject gets even more interesting nowadays, especially when universities are reviewing their course of study : literature’s situation as a discipline is at stake here, and also sociology’s, as sociology just like literature has the function of « telling» life.Studying the relationship between arts, especially between literature and sociology it’s very commun nowadays. Sociology is a discipline that developped with the begining of the nineteenth century and reached it’s thoroughness in the twentieth century with the merge of social sciences. In my thesis, I want to stress out the dialogue between literature and sociology, without falling into a sociology of littérature or vice versa. I want to show how sociology inspired from literary works using them as a practical support for its theories on social life, but also how literary works Mirror by their containts the habits of and era, the social environment of writers at that time. In order to do that, I have chosen to base my analysis on some French literary works begining with the eighteenth century untill nowadays. From Montesquieu to Annie Eranux I would like to point out the more fertile interactions between literature and sociology, while analyzing the relations between social sciences and the literary field. My subject gets even more interesting nowadays, especially when universities are reviewing their course of study : literature’s situation as a discipline is at stake here, and also sociology’s, as sociology just like literature has the function of « telling» life