The Symbolic Representation of Subversion as a Mental Illness: A Foucauldian Reading of Le Clézio's Le Procès-Verbal
ORCID
Moser: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3824-1021
MSU Affiliation
College of Arts and Sciences; Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures
Creation Date
2026-06-01
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to probe the common threads that exist between Michel Foucault and J.M.G. Le Clézio. Several researchers have noted this intertextual relationship in passing, but these analyses have been rather superficial in nature. This investigation seeks to examine Le Clézio's first novel Le Procès-Verbal from a Foucauldian perspective in a more systematic fashion. Specifically, Le Clézio and Foucault appear to express the same disquieting anxiety concerning the signs of madness that are perhaps on the verge of substituting themselves entirely for the real. Both writers compel us to ponder if we are still able to distinguish between simulations of mental illness and actual insanity itself.
Publication Date
1-3-2014
Publication Title
Journal of Romance Studies
Publisher
Liverpool University Press
First Page
90
Last Page
105
Rights
© 2026 Liverpool University Press
Recommended Citation
Moser, Keith, "The Symbolic Representation of Subversion as a Mental Illness: A Foucauldian Reading of Le Clézio's Le Procès-Verbal" (2014). Publications. 640.
https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/works_publications/640
