Enfance de Nathalie Sarraute: Autobiographie ou Fiction?

This paper presents a reading ofNathalie Sarraute 's Enfance by taking Philippe Lejeune's definition of autobiography as its frame of reference. Two important characteristics of autobiography included in this definition appear in versionfroms in Sarraute's work. The first one dealt with here is retrospective narrative, which penneates Enflance especially in connection with the present: rather than recount her fragments of memory in the way they were lived in the past, the narratar tries to render them by means a device that reveals the ir transfonnation within narrative time. Therefore Sarraute's understanding of autobiography is infonned by an introspective structure that achieves re lative independence from the past. The second main point made in this paper is that the notion of prose narrative found in Lejeune iSdefinition does not apply to Enfance. For the narrative technique, the choice of words, and the chain of associations in the book all contribute to a decidedly poetic effect. Making full use of the poetic, Sarraute incorporates into her narrative her own concept of "tropisme", which constitutes the essence of her other works as well. This paper examines in detail the process of transformation in Eflance whereby the narrative gradually turns from a report of past facts into fiction.