Transfictions et problématique du sens. Le cas d’Echenoz

Un an and Je m’en vais by Jean Echenoz, two seemingly independent novels, constitute in fact an instance of transfiction, or rather a novelistic diptych, subtly embedded in the common fictional universe by means of various textual elements such as characters, setting and diegetic analogies. Its aim is not only the unusual extension and expansion of the original fiction, based on ambiguous narration, full of understatements and contradictions, which suggests rather than tells a story in a classic way. Both texts show many extended thematic similarities, which further emphasize their structural complementarity and give it a deeper meaning. Referring to selected theories of transfiction, this article explores the way in which Echenoz plays with the conventions of serial literature and uses them to show in two versions the vicissitudes of human affairs.