French Literature Reviews - 2026
Walid Saket, Fragmented Identity in Modern Narrative: Albert Camus, Paul Auster, André Gide, and Gertrude Stein as Examples
Comparative and World Literature
In contrast to the totalizing, unified, and coherent view of life and humanity inherited from the classical age, an alternative representation has emerged since the beginning of the 20th century, characterized primarily by discontinuity, incoherence, and fragmentation. From this perspective, the present work offers a comparative study of the question of identity in the works of French and American novelists—namely Albert Camus, André Gide, Paul Auster, and Gertrude Stein. It highlights the consubstantial link between writing and the initiatory quest: discontinuous narrative fiction reflects the fragmented and elusive identity of the characters in these works. Paradoxically, incoherence and disorder become signs of a modernity that strives to be plural, unstable, and ambivalent.
The 20th century saw a significant shift away from the coherent, totalizing views of human identity inherited from the classical age. In literature and art, this transformation often manifested as a turn toward discontinuity and fragmentation. Such aesthetic developments reflect broader intellectual currents questioning the stability of the self, a theme that has occupied modern European and American traditions alike.
The present work offers a comparative study of the question of identity in the works of French and American novelists—namely Albert Camus, André Gide, Paul Auster, and Gertrude Stein. It highlights the consubstantial link between writing and the initiatory quest: discontinuous narrative fiction reflects the fragmented and elusive identity of the characters in these works. Readers interested in comparative modern literature and the representation of subjectivity in prose may find this study relevant to their pursuits.