La pudeur dans trois romans français du XXe siècle

About the Thesis

Adelaide Pagano’s Master’s thesis in European Languages and Literatures explores linguistic, philosophical, artistic, and historical research, arguing that the upheavals of the Great War led to a relaxation of moral standards and the publication of works deemed immoral and indecent.

The theme of modesty was first examined in 2016 during a study stay at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris 3, as part of a seminar on French literature. The research, conducted at the University of Naples Federico II in 2017 under the supervision of Professor Valeria Sperti, revisited the theme of modesty with a focus on the historical period of 1914–1929, analyzing three key works: Un amour de Swann by Marcel Proust (1913), Le Diable au corps by Raymond Radiguet (1923), and Alexis ou le Traité du vain combat by Marguerite Yourcenar (1929). These novels address themes of sexuality and seduction that raise questions of modesty: feminine seduction in Proust’s work, the discovery of sexuality in Radiguet’s and Yourcenar’s novels, and homosexuality in Alexis. The thesis posits that beneath the surface of seduction and sexuality, modesty emerges through specific devices such as the veil and the gaze.

Structure of the Thesis

The thesis is divided into two parts. The first examines modesty from philosophical, linguistic, historical, and artistic perspectives. Artworks from different eras, such as Le Christ voilé by Giuseppe Sanmartino and La Pudeur voilée by Antonio Corradini, are analyzed to explore the role of the veil as an optical mechanism that heightens the desire to uncover the hidden body. The veil appears in all three novels, particularly in Proust’s work, where the barrier between the desired woman and Swann’s gaze intensifies his insatiable desire for possession. The sociocultural context of the post-war period is also considered, as the upheavals of the war allowed for greater tolerance toward these works, which were deemed immodest but not censored as harshly as those of Flaubert or Baudelaire.

Analysis of the Novels

The second part of the thesis studies the devices of modesty in the three novels. In Proust’s Un amour de Swann, modesty is linked to feminine seduction. The protagonist, Odette, masters the art of seduction, and her displayed modesty is merely a strategy to arouse Swann’s desire. Éric Fiat (2016) describes this as "simulated modesty," which serves only to seduce the other, contrasting with authentic modesty. Swann’s desire for Odette aligns with psychological mechanisms triggered by modesty: when the object of love is concealed, desire escalates to obsession. A key scene where Swann spies on Odette’s bedroom through a window exemplifies this voyeuristic desire, a theme also central to Volker Schlöndorff’s film adaptation starring Ornella Muti and Jeremy Irons.

The other two novels, Le Diable au corps and Alexis ou le Traité du vain combat, present additional facets of modesty. Both are based on autobiographical events, with first-person narrators who are also the protagonists. This overlap of author, narrator, and protagonist raises questions of modesty. Upon publication, both authors sought to distance their works from the idea that the characters were real—was this a sign of modesty or an attempt to avoid implicating real people in scandalous narratives? The stylistic differences between the authors are analyzed: Radiguet’s novel is characterized by cynicism, depicting an adulterous affair between adolescents during the war with cruelty and no remorse. For Fiat, cynicism is an attitude that exposes what should be hidden, akin to the Greek Cynics who opposed the prudery of their time. Thus, cynicism can be seen as a form of immodesty.

In contrast, Alexis’s long confession to his wife Monique in Yourcenar’s novel is marked by omission. Even the word "homosexuality" is never spoken, as if the narrator seeks to make the implicit explicit while avoiding direct language. This omission can be interpreted as a form of modesty in a first-person narrative. The final comparison between the two novels considers the protagonists’ discovery of sexuality, where motifs of modesty intersect with descriptions of the adult world, characterized by prudery, self-censorship, and silence.

Conclusions

The thesis draws two main conclusions. First, novels that address themes of sexuality, desire, and its disturbances provoke a reaction of modesty in readers, who may perceive them as immodest. In the case of the three novels studied, the historical context allowed for a degree of tolerance. Second, modesty—a complex theme—is omnipresent through motifs of the gaze and the veil that conceal the object of love, as well as in the authors’ styles (cynicism or omission).