Entre romans du terroir et littérature blanche : vers une littérature de territoires ?

This article examines the work of four writers, three men and one woman, to outline the characteristics of a literary trend tentatively labelled littérature de territoires, or “territorial literature”. It then analyzes the authors’ social attributes before discussing the limitations of such an attempt to define a new genre. To achieve its goals, this study limits its consideration to a single novel per author: L’Été circulaire (Circular Summer) by Marion Brunet, En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule (The End of Eddy) by Édouard Louis, Leurs enfants après eux (And their children after them) by Nicolas Mathieu and Rural noir by Benoit Minville. Interviews with the authors and their respective editors supplement the literary analyses proposed herein.