Jean-Philippe Toussaint

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to study the intertextual play in four novels grouped under the label « MARIE MADELEINE MARGUERITE DE MONTALTE » by the Belgian author Jean-Philippe Toussaint. The theoretical tool to study this phenomenon is the theory of intertextuality and the intertextual typology in particular, extracted from Gérard Genette’s Palimpsestes: la littérature au second degré (1982) and Tiphaine Samoyault’s Intertexte, Mémoire de la littérature (2001). The main question the study raises is what function the intertexts occupy in the tetralogy. The article distinguishes between a diegetic and a metaliterary function. The study shows that the intertexts, mostly allusions, only play a minor role in the diegesis. However, several allusions occupy a metaliterary function. Through these, the author debates literary questions. The author’s attitude is playful: He gently mocks the authors behind the intertexts and enters into a dialogue with them at the same time.