Le blog d'écrivain : La littérature à l'épreuve d'Internet

Abstract

This study focuses on three blogs kept by writers who have published novels in renowned publishing houses: François Bon, Éric Chevillard and Chloé Delaume. This new writing practice raises the question of whether literature can be transferred to the Internet: does this medium admit literary activity or, on the contrary, does it represent a limit or even a threat to the future of literature? By using theoretical tools from the field of discourse analysis, the study discusses theoretical problems related to the impact of digital media on the perception of genres and on the notion of authorship. First, the study shows that the web does not allow the emergence of literary works, because this process is based on the editorial circuit and the hierarchy between textual categories. The existence of authors in the strongest meaning of the term is also compromised by the web, since the writers establish direct contact with their readers. The writer blog thus implies a dilemma: its success is necessarily to the detriment of a rewarding literary practice that the writer does not want to give up. This double bind is apparent in the way the writers use their blog: Bon wishes to open the literary field to the Internet, Chevillard is defending ”good” literature and Delaume intends to make her blog a performance.