Through the ages, the pursuit of Happiness has been at the heart of the needs and desires each individual would seek to fulfill, while as a concept, Happiness has always resonated strongly in poetic as well as philosophical, sociological and psychological contexts.
But what about Happiness today, in a world dominated by technology, driven by productivity and dictated by efficiency?
Does Happiness still feature in contemporary fiction in any significant way? Or has it perhaps gone underground, adopting different guises?
Would we still call that "duty of happiness" that Pascal Bruckner saw as "present at the second half of the twentieth century" a relevant force today? Or has it waned perceptibly?The articles brought together in this volume seek to work out answers to these and similar questions, creatively addressing the imminent risks but also eagerly following up the intriguing possibilities one encounters when interrogating Happiness in the contemporary novel. Originally based on an international conference organized at the University of Haifa, Israel, in May 2010, the volume is structured around the axes we found useful as a basis for the various approaches towards Happiness in Europe and the historical and social events that influenced the writing of Happiness as they defined the 20th century and have impacted on the 21st: the Holocaust, the Soviet dystopia, consumerism, postmodernism, "everyday life," the various as yet unarticulated new modes of life they have given rise to, and so on.
A new writing of happiness then? At the very least this volume targets the contemporary novel without wanting to solidify works, instead taking into account the fluctuations Happiness has been subjected to, and the diversity and especially the paradoxes it has created, while we have been keen to preserve a "precise" reading of the texts and have felt compelled to respect and preserve the particular features that make the writings of the authors we focus on stand out.
Theme philosophique aussi bien que poetique, sociologique et psychologique, le bonheur s'edifie a la mesure de chacun. " N'est-il pas vrai que, nous autres hommes, nous desirons tous etre heureux ? " (Platon). Or dans notre monde actuel domine par la technique, la recherche a outrance du productif et de l'efficacite, qu'en est-il du bonheur ?
Est-il encore present aux ecritures romanesques contemporaines ?
Sous quelles formes se presenterait sa recherche ? Ce " devoir de bonheur propre a la deuxieme moitie du XXe siecle " dont parle Pascal Bruckner, continue-t-il toujours a etre d'actualite ?
S'est-il renforce ou, au contraire, s'est-il affaibli?Le projet d'un questionnement du bonheur dans le roman contemporain comportait de gros risques, mais il offrait en meme temps des possibilites stimulantes.
A la suite du colloque international organise a l'universite de Haifa en mai 2010, les textes reunis dans ce livre, cherchent a elaborer des elements de reponse a ces questions.
Le volume offre un etat des lieux du bonheur dans le roman depuis 1980 et presente une large diversite d'approches, de definitions, d'interrogations sur l'ecriture du bonheur sur trois decennies.Le recueil s'articule autour d'axes qui ont servi de base aux differentes approches du bonheur en Europe et d'evenements historiques et sociaux qui ont pu influencer l'ecriture du bonheur aux differentes periodes du XXe et XXe siecles, telles que l'Holocauste, la dystopie en Russie, le postmodernisme et le consumerisme, le quotidien, les differents paradoxes du bonheur, les nouveaux modes de vie.Nouvelle ecriture du bonheur?
Du moins, ce volume vise-t-il le contemporain sans figer les oeuvres, tout en tenant compte des fluctuations du sujet, de sa diversite, de ses paradoxes surtout, tout en conservant la lecture precise des textes et en respectant la particularite de l'ecriture des auteurs traites.
