Alain Robbe-Grillet

EDMUND JOSEPH SMYTH (Manchester Metropolitan University)
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Alain Robbe-Grillet’s contribution to the development of contemporary writing has been seminal, both in terms of his own ground-breaking novels and essays, and as a result of his “leadership” of the

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movement of writers. From the late 1950s onwards, along with Claude Simon, Michel Butor and Nathalie Sarraute (and to some degree Marguerite Duras), this group of writers effectively challenged the prevailing orthodoxies of traditional realist and psychological fiction, and helped to create the conditions for a new aesthetic, which would have wide intellectual repercussions. The

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exerted a profound influence upon literary theory and narratology from the 1960s onwards, and helped shape structuralism, poststructuralism and postmodernism. After existentialism, the

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Citation: SMYTH, EDMUND JOSEPH. "Alain Robbe-Grillet". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 October 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3803, accessed 19 March 2024.]

3803 Alain Robbe-Grillet 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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