Quest Of The Origin Through An Aquatic Reverie In Le Salon Du Wurtemberg Of Pascal Quignard

Le Salon du Wurtemberg is one of the masterpieces of Pascal Quignard, who is a great novelist, essayist of the French contemporary literature. In reading this memory of the protagonist who seems telling stories around a place, we become aware of a persistent presence of the image of 《water》. The aim of this thematic study is to investigate how the water motif works in Quignard’s novel. In order to better analyze this roman in a thematic way, we also make a special reference to the theory of Gaston Bachelard who attaches great importance to the image.We start our study by rebuilding the aquatic world hidden behind the text. In this universe of water, we later examine the manifestations of water to lighten his symbolism in the roman. If the water may evoke the desire, it can also provide comfort and protection, because the image of water makes us already nostalgic for our own mother. The hero, like a salmon going back through the river to trace its origin, was in fact seeking the image of his mother, and he spent his entire life to understand his mother’s abandonment. However, his quest of the origin can only follow the course of water which is a cycle, a cycle who repeats the original abandonment. Actually, in this aquatic world, the origin doesn’t exist, thus the hero’s quest for the origin is in vain. The tragic fate of the hero had been already written before his birth: he was born in the region of Wurttemberg on the Franco-German border, the uncertainty of identity and the insecurity of life make his world dark and melancholy.By revealing the reverie of water in the novel, this work guides us to enter the poetic and imaginary universe of Quignard, as well as to discover the source of the inspiration of his creation.