Violence and Guilt in Claudel's Novel and Larcenet's Graphic Novel

Extract

[...] This is what we can clearly see in this panel by Manu Larcenet, which we have chosen to reproduce. The comic book author has at his disposal tools that the novelist does not have. He can therefore draw this face that has something monstrous about it with these scattered teeth and which do not resemble human teeth, as well as these eyes that are not really but rather empty holes. Perhaps this is a way for Manu Larcenet to highlight how those responsible for these violence are not really but are rather blinded by an ideology that surpasses them. [...]

[...] Throughout his literary work, in both novels and plays, Philippe Claudel is notable for a very sober literary style, contrary to a bombastic literary style. We often find a kind of paradoxical convergence in the style of both the novelist Philippe Claudel and the comic book author Manu Larcenet, who use completely different artistic mediums. The internalization of guilt: the inner monologue and the visual representation of consciousness This panel that we have chosen to represent illustrates well how guilt works on the character. [...]

[...] II - Guilt: An Inner Burden with Multiple Facets The different forms of guilt: direct, indirect, collective Guilt can take on multiple forms in both the novel and the comic book: opened the door. My heart seemed to be that of a hunted bird. I was afraid to see this room again, afraid as I was to meet a dead person, but what I saw surprised me so much that my anxiety advanced immediately'2 ». We can clearly see the extent to which the narrator feels apprehension about returning to the scene of the drama. [...]

[...] We find the expression of violence represented in another way in Philippe Claudel's novel. By the force of circumstances, Philippe Claudel cannot opt for the same silence, he is, by nature, obliged to fill the page with characters, which does not prevent him from opting for sobriety: 'My eyes kept coming back to the three corpses. I felt caught in a vertigo, and the sight of these dead people brought back to my memory confused memories of other dead people, other corpses stretched out like puppets, and who had nothing human in their features'1 ». [...]

[...] As we can see in the panel we have chosen to reproduce above, it is not the case. In fact, Manu Larcenet has this incredible ability to play on contrasts. We can thus see, for example, in the six vignettes we have in front of us that the comic book author has opted for particularly dark tonalities. It's as if the choice of monochrome over color made the contrasts stand out even more, mutatis mutandis, It's a bit like the blind people whose other senses, except sight, are heightened. [...]