Lecturas del extranjero en l'Homme à l'envers de Fred Vargas
ISSN: 1699-4949
Year of publication: 2013
Issue Title: Percepciones del extranjero y de lo extranjero en la literatura de expresión francesa
Issue: 3
Pages: 227-236
Type: Article
More publications in: Çédille: Revista de Estudios Franceses
Sustainable development goals
Abstract
The aim of this work is to explore the construction of the character of Lawrence Donald Jonhstone in the detective novel L’Homme à l’envers, by French writer Fred Vargas. Firstly, we will analyze how this Canadian man –explicitly described with characteristics opposed to those of other inhabitants of the community taking him in– is presented as a divided self with two different cultural heritages. Secondly, we will observe his connection with the animal world, which defines him as non-human, half man-half beast, and a stranger to society. As we will demonstrate, both these aspects predispose him to occupy the archetypal figure of the guilty in the system of characters featured in this novel.
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