ABSTRACT
Postwar French literature has often grappled with subjectivity and its limits - with the dilemma of establishing the philosophical conditions under which autobiography, in whatever form, is justifiable. In this respect, the work of Pierre Michon stands out as a particularly moving response to this quintessential French literary problem. Equally fascinating is Michon's way of objectively elucidating other artists' lives while at the same time paralleling them to his own intimate experiences. There is no doubt about it: Michon has been there. Along with the exaltation, he knows the humiliations, the dissatisfactions, the sheer drudgery of artistic labors. Delving into his relationships with two taciturn carp fishermen, a wry old woman innkeeper "sturdy like the sibyl of Cumes", a "callipygian" divorcee who sells newspapers and cigarettes, her schoolboy son, and a plucky student girlfriend from Perigueux, this highly concentrated opening suggested a backwoods Madame Bovary story line.
