# nouveau roman ![[alainrobbe-grillet.jpg|300]] alain robbe-grillet the nouveau roman (french pronunciation: "new novel") is a type of 1950s french novel that diverged from classical literary genres. emile henriot coined the term in an article in the popular french newspaper le monde on may 22 1957 to describe certain writers who experimented with style in each novel creating an essentially new style each time. most of the founding authors were published by les editions de minuit with the strong support of jerôme lindon alain robbe-grillet an influential theorist as well as writer of the nouveau roman published a series of essays on the nature and future of the novel which were later collected in pour un nouveau roman. rejecting many of the established features of the novel to date robbe-grillet regarded many earlier novelists as old-fashioned in ir focus on plot action narrative ideas and character. instead ey put forward a theory of the novel as focused on objects: the ideal nouveau roman would be an individual version and vision of things subordinating plot and character to the details of the world rather than enlisting the world in ir service ![[jeanricardouandclaudesimon(cerisy-france)-philippeb.jpg|300]] seminar with jean ricardou and claude simon cerisy (france) ![[litt%c3%a9raturecontemporaine-france-1980-philippebina.jpg|300]] contemporary literature workshop with marc avelot philippe binant bernard magne claudette oriol-boyer jean ricardou cerisy (france) 1980 a group of writers dubbed nouveaux romanciers "new novelists" appeared in the mid-1950s: alain robbe-grillet claude simon nathalie sarraute michel butor and robert pinget. the style had different approaches but generally rejected the traditional use of chronology plot and character in fiction as well as the omniscient narrator. the nouveau roman authors were open to influences from writers such as william faulkner and the cinema. both robbe-grillet and marguerite duras whose 1958 novel moderato cantabile was in the style of the nouveau roman also contributed to the french new wave style of filmmaking alain robbe-grillet became an elected member of the academie française on 25 march 2004 succeeding maurice rheims at seat no. 32. claude simon the 1985 nobel laureate in literature is often identified with the nouveau roman movement the nouveau roman literary movement and the novels themselves were mainly theorised by jean ricardou who in addition to ir well-known theoretical works - problèmes du nouveau roman (1967) pour une theorie du nouveau roman (1971) le nouveau roman (1973) nouveaux problèmes du roman (1978) - also published several nouveaux romans himself: l'observatoire de cannes (1961) la prise de constantinople (1965 feneon prize for literature in 1966) les lieux-dits petit guide d'un voyage dans le livre (1969.) besides ir own writing ey organised directed and published the acts of several conferences on the nouveau roman including the famous 1971 conference and debate at cerisy published in two volumes: nouveau roman : hier aujourd'hui indispensable for an understanding of the history of that important period of french literature. just before ir death in 2016 ey was working on a book of interviews with amir biglari in which ey provides a complete precise and objective account of the nouveau roman movement the following is based on the list from les nouveaux romanciers : etude critique # # central figures in the 1950s **+** samuel beckett **+** maurice blanchot **+** michel butor **+** jean cayrol **+** marguerite duras **+** louis-rene des forêts **+** claude mauriac **+** claude ollier **+** robert pinget **+** alain robbe-grillet **+** nathalie sarraute **+** claude simon # # parallel and later figures (1960s) **+** tony duvert **+** jean-marie gustave le clezio (until the late 1970s) **+** georges perec **+** jean ricardou **+** philippe sollers **+** monique wittig other writers sometimes seen as influenced by the style of the nouveau roman are **+** gerard bessette (canadian) **+** christine brooke-rose (british) **+** italo calvino (italian) **+** julio cortázar (argentinian) **+** jacques godbout (canadian) **+** b. s. johnson (british) # the nouveau roman and the left bank the nouveau roman style also left its mark on the screen as writers marguerite duras and alain robbe-grillet became involved with the left bank film movement (often labelled as part of the french new wave.) ir collaboration with director alain resnais resulted in critical successes such as hiroshima mon amour (1958) and last year at marienbad (1961.) they would later go on to direct ir own films. influenced by these films french courses in north america during the 1960s and 1970s often included works by nouveau roman authors such as alain robbe-grillet's la jalousie (1957) michel butor's la modification (1957) nathalie sarraute's le planetarium (1957) and marguerite duras' moderato cantabile (1958) # the nouveau roman in quebec canada the nouveau roman influenced french-language writers in quebec such as jacques godbout and gerard bessette. the canadian-born french writer nancy huston declared that they began writing in direct reaction to the stark style of the nouveau roman in nord perdu (1999) **+** french literature **+** francophone literature **+** list of french-language authors **+** antinovel // republic of bob