Le regard des autres dans Le Joker de Jean Muno

Abstract

The theme of look, omnipresent in the writing of Jean Muno, is examined particularly carefully in Joker. The novel tells, in a little parodistic way, the story of the social promotion of Alfons Face, an average weak man, who changes into a charming antiquary. However, this metamorphosis does not result from the protagonist ambition or his actions, but it is provoked by other people look: its creative power is huge because being watched is equal to existing and becoming visible to the society. The hero stops being anonymous and becomes what others want him to be, like a chameleon. He learns how to function in the society and also finds out about its rules: everyone pretends so one must do the same. Mimetism turns out to be an old custom that is widely approved of and maintained in everyday life. Nevertheless, the masquerade does not last long because others look, initially creative, stops following the protagonist and causes his fall: people do not look at him any more, which annihilates him in the social sphere. It turns out that hell is still other people. Muno criticises social cannibalism which forces the individual to interpret imposed roles until he loses his own identity. In his bitter and pessimistic vision of the world man is only an actor performing in a human comedy that is in the society.