Plenitude Restored, or, Trompe L'oeil

Plenitude Restored, or, Trompe L'oeil Synopsis

Although Pierre Jean Jouve's first novel, Paulina 1880, was published in 1925 and Michel Tournier's first novel, Vendredi ou les Limbes du Pacifique, did not appear until 1967, a painful sense of fragmentation and loss of original plenitude haunts the works of both authors. This study focuses on the psychological fragmentation related to sexuality and sex roles within the prose of Tournier and Jouve, exploring this phenomenon vis-a-vis Tournierian and Jouvian heterosexuals, gays, and bisexuals. It tackles an issue heretofore untreated by critics of Tournier and Jouve: the overwhelmingly positive reception given to the biologically male androgyne.