Re-stitching a world adrift by shedding light on the ties that connect us in Jours d’exil by Juliette Kahane

Abstract

In the aftermath of the 2015 terrorist attacks and the arrival during the summer of numerous migrants in Europe, what does contemporary French literature teach us about the disintegration of the social fabric resulting from the erosion of common references? In Juliette Kahane’s novel Jours d’exil, une saison au lycée Jean-Quarré (2017), the narrator, disoriented by the current events and the state of the world more generally, looks for answers at the Maison des réfugiés. The analysis will demonstrate that beyond the spectacular violence and chaos, crucial solidary ties are at play. We will study the driving forces of this social disintegration at the Maison des réfugiés as well as the ways in which the narrative depicts this space as a nexus of converging energies. We will also analyze the narrator’s observation methodology that allows her to not only face this chaotic world, but also reconnects her to it. Kahane’s novel shows how contemporary French literature is equipped to expose ties that opinion surveys and electoral results analyses fail to account for.