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### ESTHÉTIQUE DE LA FRAGMENTATION ET IDENTITÉ PLURIELLE DANS CANE DE JANE TOOMER ; LECTURE ICONOCLASTE DES PREMIÈRES HEURES

### Abstract

La critique littéraire a substantiellement investigué l’œuvre pionnière de Jean Toomer, Cane (1923), s’attardant notamment sur sa contribution inaugurale à la littérature afro-américaine moderniste et son exploration des dynamiques raciales et socio-culturelles de l’époque. Néanmoins, une appréhension exhaustive de la corrélation intrinsèque entre son esthétique délibérément fragmentaire et la représentation nuancée de l’identité plurielle au sein du texte recèle des avenues interprétatives encore insuffisamment prospectées. Cette étude postule affirmativement que l’hétérogénéité structurelle et stylistique de Cane n’est pas un artifice fortuit, mais constitue un vecteur sémiotique essentiel à la figuration des identités protéiformes et souvent irréductibles de ses personnages, évoluant dans un contexte socio-historique marqué par la ségrégation et les prémices d’une conscience identitaire afro-américaine en gestation. En conséquence, la présente recherche s’articule autour de la question nodale suivante : Comment l’esthétique de la fragmentation déployée dans Cane de Jean Toomer module-t-elle la représentation de l’identité plurielle de ses protagonistes, et quelles inférences épistémologiques peut-on en déduire concernant les complexités de l’être afro-américain au seuil de la modernité littéraire ? L’objectif primordial de cette étude réside dans l’analyse textuelle approfondie de Cane afin d’expliciter les modalités par lesquelles sa structure fragmentée, englobant une mosaïque de vignettes narratives, de poèmes et d’esquisses dramatiques, informe et complexifie la représentation des identités plurielles. Pour ce faire, une méthode d’analyse sémiotique, ancrée dans la déconstruction des signifiants textuels et l’interprétation de leurs corrélations sémantiques, sera privilégiée. La sémiotique, par sa focalisation sur les systèmes de signes et leur capacité à générer du sens, se révèle particulièrement pertinente pour déchiffrer la manière dont les choix formels de Toomer (ruptures narratives, juxtapositions incongrues, ellipses) contribuent à la figuration d’identités souvent hybrides, instables et en quête de cohérence. Son utilité réside dans sa capacité à transcender une lecture superficielle pour exhumer les mécanismes sous-jacents par lesquels le texte construit et déconstruit les notions d’appartenance et d’individualité. L’analyse s’articulera autour de deux axes fondamentaux : « Miroir de la pluralité identitaire » et « sémantique de l’ellipse et suggestion du Soi indivisible »

Literary criticism has substantially investigated Jean Toomer’s pioneering work Cane (1923), focusing in particular on its inaugural contribution to modernist African-American literature and its exploration of the racial and socio-cultural dynamics of the time. Nevertheless, an exhaustive apprehension of the intrinsic correlation between his deliberately fragmentary aesthetic and the text’s nuanced representation of plural identity conceals interpretative avenues that remain insufficiently explored. This study asserts that Cane’s structural and stylistic heterogeneity is not a fortuitous artifice, but constitutes an essential semiotic vector for the figuration of the protean and often irreducible identities of its characters, evolving in a socio-historical context marked by segregation and the beginnings of a nascent African-American identity consciousness. Accordingly, the current research revolves around the following nodal question: How does the aesthetic of fragmentation deployed in Jean Toomer’s Cane modulate the representation of the plural identity of its protagonists, and what epistemological inferences can be deduced concerning the complexities of African-American being at the threshold of literary modernity? The overriding objective of this study lies in the in-depth textual analysis of Cane, in order to clarify the ways in which its fragmented structure, encompassing a mosaic of narrative vignettes, poems and dramatic sketches, informs and complexifies the representation of plural identities. To that end, a semiotic method of analysis, rooted in the deconstruction of textual signifiers and the interpretation of their semantic correlations will be used. With its focus on sign systems and their capacity to generate meaning, semiotics is particularly relevant for deciphering how Toomer’s formal choices (narrative ruptures, incongruous juxtapositions, ellipses) contribute to the figuration of identities that are often hybrid, unstable and in search of coherence. Its usefulness lies in its ability to transcend a superficial reading to unearth the underlying mechanisms by which the text constructs and deconstructs notions of belonging and individuality. The analysis will be structured around two fundamental axes: “Mirror of identity plurality” and “semantics of ellipsis and suggestion of the indivisible Self”.

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### References

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