Elsa Triolet, born Ella Jurievna Kagana in Moscow in 1896, brought into her French works ideas absorbed during her contact with Russian Futurist poets and theoreticians. This study traces these influences in her prose.
Chapter I presents the biographical details of Triolet's Futurist acquaintanceship, and her shift from Russian to French as her literary language. Certain basic characteristics that underly all of Triolet's work, such as mobility and daily gesture, are presented to give background to the discussion.
Chapter II starts the analysis at the level of the word. Triolet's acceptance of the Futurist principle of the word as something to create gives way to a creative use of cliche. Jakobsonian concepts are brought into play to demonstrate the significance of the repetition of words in Triolean narrative. Lastly, the word as sound and the use of colloquialisms are explained.
Chapter III enlarges the sphere of study to specific literary devices. Sklovskij's concept of ostranenie ("making strange"), the representation of something without its cultural landmarks, is illustrated, and Jakobson's analysis of the incongruous stranger in Russian realist fiction is applied to Triolet's works. The importance of svoe mesto ("one's place") and the practice of collage, the appearance of real people or documents in the fictional narrative, are examined.
Chapter IV takes on Triolet's narrative structure as a whole. Parallels are drawn between Futurist concepts and modern paradigms in general so as to situate Triolet's prose in contemporary models. The participatory nature of Triolean narrative is discussed, as are her different structural models, including those influenced by the Russian oral epic, similar in many ways to modern structure and a basis for Triolet's Le Cheval blanc.
Chapter V is dominated by studies of multiplicity and perspective. Different aspects of character development are discussed, as is the expanding of the incongruous stranger into a structural element. Time, place, and perspective as foregrounded elements are examined.
Chapter VI brings Triolet back to Russian. It analyses her thoughts on translation and self-translation, and offers examples of her work in that field.
