The chronotope and the sociogram of vocation: The writer as spokesman in Un 'Joualonais sa Joualonie' by Marie-Claire Blais

Vocation is a structural value in Marie-Claire Blais' novel, Un Joualonais sa Joualonie. It is the generative principle, the vector according to which each character defines himself. The chronotope and the sociogram are two c oncepts which emphasize the relation between levels of the text which appea r to be antithetical. Here they are used to identify the core conflict whic h determines the entire ideological structure of the text. The main idea wh ich, from a spatial and temporal point of view, suggests a vision that is s pecific to the writer's novel as a literary genre. The general picture show s the failure of a literature overdetermined by the "social text's" require ment of meaning. For the writer Papillon, the impossibility of becoming a f ree artists is directly linked to his election as a spokesperson for the na tional community.