Sunday of Fiction: The Modern French Eccentric

Conclusion: L’excentrique retrouvé

162 Conclusion L’excentrique retrouvé Mystical dance! […] Mazes intricate, Eccentric, intervolv’d, yet regular Then most, when most irregular they seem. John Milton Paradise Lost While in the nineteenth century, eccentrics strove to be noticed as they metaphorically cried their singularity from the rooftops, the twentieth-century eccentric is characterized by a sudden understatement that may account for the term’s absence from updates to such lexical sources as the Trésor de la langue française or even popular fiction, where it flourished a century ago. The lack of any great sartorial eccentricity is a particularly striking example of the modern eccentric’s newfound subtlety. Although the dandy made a point of not appearing outlandish or gaudy, dress was still a very important issue for him; by opposition, for the modern eccentric, it is a nonissue. While in real life, of course, there are many eccentrics who still dress in unusual and remarkable ways, in French fiction, it no longer matters what eccentrics wear. Since uncommon dress has always been associated with eccentricity, it is particularly striking when fictional eccentrics dress in very conventional or unremarkable ways. Thematically, freedom continues to be inexorably linked to the eccentric. From Saurin’s Anglomane, who sought to free himself from the political or societal rigidity of Paris by behaving and dressing as he pleased in London, to Toussaint’s 163 Conclusion bathtub man, who seems to carry out a sort of collective wishful fillment by arbitrarily extending a warm, delicious bath for days on end, eccentrics do as they please when they please. This organic quality is what ultimately distinguishes real eccentrics from pseudo-eccentrics who consciously attempt to singularize their speech or actions in order to be seen. From what do modern eccentrics need to liberate themselves ? In the early twentieth century, the examples covered in Chapter 2 unconsciously rebelled against new constraints on their time. Salavin and Monsieur both rebelled against the hegemonic office structure that ruled their lives. The bavard deviated from the stereotypical label pinned upon him by behaving as a type of trickster. He weaved the listener around his finger in such a way as to make the listener into a banal figure rather than the other way around. Again, whereas nineteenth-century eccentrics were considered insane fous littéraires, in some cases, for daring to publish their chatter or else merely lightly entertaining in terms of the playful “excentricité du language” recorded by Larchey, the bavard renders himself unique by, ironically, appearing perfectly normal to the point of initially portraying himself as an annoying cliché. It is only by shrewd analysis that one is able to discern the bavard’s ingenious trickery. Since radio and television have increased the amount of chatter to such an extent that one is subjected to mechanical messages from all angles, the bavard teaches us to be alert and awake enough to realize what is a cliché and what is not. Along with the new eccentric’s relatively discreet profile, such as the bathtub man, who disappears from society, or Monsieur, who, by day, seems like a standard cadre only to break away from his office “frame” in increments when he is not at work, the modern eccentric is rather quiet. Nineteenth-century eccentrics such as Jean Journet or the fin de siècle hydropathes were very vocal; Monsieur, Echenoz’s characters, the soupirant, Monsieur Hulot, even the building in La vie mode d’emploi are practically silent. Just as it is now considered eccentric to wear understated clothing rather than to dress in an outrageous manner, modern eccentrics react to the increasing noise around them mutely. In Tant qu’on a la santé, Etaix’s character remains stalwart before the couple who speak only in terms of commercials. Similarly, the 164 Conclusion soupirant does not need to recite poetry in order to learn the art of love. Because he is out of tune with his peers, who no doubt use “pick-up” lines to seduce, the soupirant affirms his originality by a singular type of urban ballet in which he leaps off balconies like a bird and in and out of street crowds like a feather rather than like a follower. There is also a sense within the modern eccentric’s chronotope that speech no longer matters as much. Politicians, from the birth of radio to today, have been known for their great (or...