A Portrait of the Reader As an Ogre. On a Passage of Le Roi des Aulnes

Abstract

A philosopher by vocation, Michel Tournier grants a key role to the problem of interpretation. As is well known, the main characters in his novels –Robinson, Abel Tiffauges, Alexandre– are characterized by an exceptional avidity, which leads them to systematically examine the elements of outer reality as signs of their own destiny. However, the great merit of the novelist lies in managing to pass that obsession on to the reader, who, in turn and in front of Tournier’s text, is forced to choose between the insufficient and the excessive interpretation, and, more generally, to consider the question of the limits of interpretatio