Robert Pinget
Robert Pinget was a Swiss author and dramatist known for his innovative exploration of language and identity within the fictional realms of Fantoine and Agapa. Initially pursuing a law degree and briefly practicing, Pinget transitioned to the arts, first in visual art and then literature. His debut short story collection, "Between Fantoine and Agapa," was published in 1951, followed by his first novel, "Mahu," which garnered attention from notable literary figures, including Alain Robbe-Grillet and Albert Camus. Throughout his career, Pinget received several prestigious awards, such as the Prix des Critiques for "The Inquisitory" and the Prix Femina for "Someone."
In addition to his novels, he made significant contributions to drama, including translating Samuel Beckett's works. Despite a declaration in 1968 to cease writing, he continued to create experimental literature that challenged traditional narratives and meanings. Pinget's works often reflect a fluid understanding of identity and reality, with characters engaged in complex quests for self-understanding amidst the chaos of existence. His philosophy, aligned with postmodern thought, suggests that language and personal identity are ever-evolving, offering both a tragic and liberating perspective on the human experience.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Robert Pinget
French novelist and playwright
- Born: July 19, 1919
- Birthplace: Geneva, Switzerland
- Died: August 25, 1997
- Place of death: Tours, France
Biography
The creator of the fictional realm of Fantoine and Agapa, Robert Pinget (pihn-zhay) explored the limits of language in his novels and plays. After receiving a law degree from the University of Geneva and practicing briefly he had turned first to visual art, then to literature. In 1951 he published a collection of short stories, Between Fantoine and Agapa, at his own expense. Mahu, his first novel, appeared the following year and received a favorable review from the French avant-garde writer Alain Robbe-Grillet. His next novel, Le Renard et la boussole (the fox and the compass), came out under the prestigious imprint of Gallimard, whose reader, Albert Camus, found the work impressive. Subsequent fiction also enjoyed critical acclaim: In 1963 The Inquisitory won the Prix des Critiques, and Someone received the Prix Femina two years later. A Ford Foundation grant in 1960 and a sabbatical subsidized by the French government (1975-1976) paid further tribute to his literary achievement.
Pinget’s career as a dramatist was as productive as his efforts as a novelist. In 1959 he translated Samuel Beckett’s All That Fall (pr., pb. 1957) into French; Beckett returned the favor by rendering La Manivelle into The Old Tune, which was aired by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on August 23, 1960. In that same year Pinget’s Dead Letter shared the stage with Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape (pr., pb. 1958). Despite his 1968 vow to stop writing, Pinget continued to produce experimental literature that challenged his audiences to discover meaning in a world of chaos.
Always an innovator, Pinget shared his compatriot Robbe-Grillet’s view that literature should be “an exploration, but an exploration which itself creates its own significations as it proceeds.” Robbe-Grillet adds to his statement, “We no longer believe in the fixed significations, the ready-made meanings which offered man the old divine order and subsequently the rationalist order of the nineteenth century.” Hence language, and identity that springs from it, is constantly in flux. In Identité (identity), the protagonist, Mortin, wishing to discuss his doctor, speaks of l’analyse (analysis). The maid, Naomi, hears Anne-Lise and so shifts the conversation to that woman. In That Voice, the reader cannot be sure whether a leaflet advertises coppers or copiers, whether “a candle was burning at the deceased’s bedside” or “a handle was churning up his diseased backside.”
Personality is as fluid as words. In The Old Tune, Pommard and Toupin recount their early lives. The two sound alike, making them indistinguishable in the radio play, and each seems more familiar with the other’s life than with his own. Levert (Dead Letter) talks to a bartender, then to a clerk, about his missing son. These two listeners may be the same person as well as the son Levert seeks. Two minor figures in that piece, Fred and Lili, claim to act with Bed and Quiqui, whose names are similar to their own, and in the play that Fred and Lili perform they assume their colleagues’ roles. The title characters of Abel et Bela have names and pasts that are virtually identical.
Nothing is certain in Pinget’s works. Why does the young Theodore in That Voice live with his uncle? According to one version, the youth exploits the old man; another account claims that Alexandre was abusing his nephew. How did Alexandre die? Did Theodore stab him? Did Alexandre’s housekeeper, Marie, kill him? Perhaps her nephew, Louis, murdered his aunt’s employer. Perhaps Alexandre died naturally.
At the beginning of the second act of Clope the title character gropes in the dark for a clue that will reveal his past to him and so allow him to make sense of his life. All Pinget’s characters are embarked on similar quests as they try to understand themselves and their surroundings. Like Clope, they are doomed because ambiguity reigns in Pinget’s fiction, as it does in the late twentieth century world he records. Geography, language, identity, motivation—they all shift. As Baga tells Architruc, “There’s no ‘life.’ There’s you.”
Such a view can be tragic for those seeking definite answers, but it can also be liberating. Because reality is subjective, people can be whatever and whoever they want to be and to do whatever they wish. Existence is a kaleidoscope: Lacking a single pattern, it has many; thus characters, writers, and readers are free to mold themselves and their environment. As Friedrich Nietzsche observed, “There must be chaos that new worlds may be born.”
Bibliography
Chambers, Ross. The World Around Mortin: A Reading of Robert Pinget’s “Autour de Mortin.” North Ryde, Australia: Macquarie University, School of Modern Languages, 1973. Offers a close reading and interpretation of Pinget’s radio play, Autour de Mortin.
Esslin, Martin. The Theatre of the Absurd. 3d ed. New York: Penguin Books, 1991. Examines an important movement in twentieth century drama, one with which Pinget has been associated. Some specific discussion of Pinget included. Bibliography and index.
Fetzer, Glenn W. “A Critical Bibliography of Robert Pinget.” Review of Contemporary Fiction 3 (1983). Listing of forty-one books, articles, and reviews in French and English; provides a good starting place for the student seeking additional information on the writer.
Henkels, Robert M., Jr. Robert Pinget: The Novel as Quest. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1979. Examines the overriding theme of search and journey in Pinget’s works.
Livingstone, Beverly. “From A to F and Back: Pinget’s Fictive Arena.” Yale French Studies 57 (1979). Through a close reading of Someone, Livingstone explores Pinget’s fictional world.
Mercier, Vivian. The New Novel from Queneau to Pinget. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1971. Includes discussion of Pinget.
Oppenheim, Lois, ed. Three Decades of the French New Novel. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986. Includes discussion of Pinget.
Review of Contemporary Fiction 3, no. 2 (Summer, 1983). Entire issue is devoted to Pinget and Jack Kerouac.
Rosmarin, Leonard A. Robert Pinget. New York: Twayne, 1995. Provides criticism and interpretation of Pinget’s life and works. Bibliography and index.
Updike, John. “Grove Is My Press and Avant My Garde.” The New Yorker, November 4, 1967. An appreciation that concentrates on The Inquisitory.
Updike, John. “Pinget.” The New Yorker, September 17, 1979. An appreciation that concentrates on The Libera Me Domine and Recurrent Melody.