Entre poésie et fiction: Tess ou l'écriture syncopée de Thomas Hardy

Abstract

Thomas Hardy's poems and novels are closely intertwined through a system of echoes, which suggests that rather than two entirely different modes of writing, they are deeply connected in the writer's mind and reflect a similar quest for meaning through disruption rather than euphonious perfection. This paper addresses a few instances of duplication, focusing mostly on the character of Tess of the d'Urbervilles, and on the sense of rupture which Hardy seeks to explore by throwing his reader off-balance. Catherine Clement's book on the philosophy of rapture is used to highlight Hardy's use of syncopation. In poems like Tess's Lament or Beyond the Last Lamp, Hardy probes into the traumatic shift from before to after, the haunting faultline which may be revisited over and over again but never eradicated, corresponding to the fragmented perception of Tess's confession to Angel, which instantly severs the lovers instead of uniting them. Stylistic mishaps such as omissions or punctuations become symptoms through which affect may seep into the text, be it a novel or a poem.