Place, rôle et représentation de l’animal dans le roman Sans l’orang-outan (2007) d’Éric Chevillard

Animals occupy a central place in Chevillard’s oeuvre Sans l’orang-outan deals with animals’ place, roles, representations and relationships with humans. The novel depicts a chaotic and apocalyptic world, foreground as it does the disappearance of the last orangutans caused by the arrogant and insolent actions of people. Two aspects characterize Chevillard’s writing: the seriousness of the theme and the irony in its representation. The paper analyzes the numerous dimensions of the novel’s involvement in environmental problems through the reflection on the circumstance of animals. It also discusses the eschatological aspects of the environmental crisis. It is demonstrated that for Chevillard the question of biodiversity is also a question of aesthetics and imagination. The article also looks to show that the aim of adopting ethical and aesthetic stances is to encourage the reader to opt for responsible and life-preserving attitudes towards Earth’s ecosystem; and the raising ecological awareness as such.