Littératures

Robbe-Grillet's La plage : a critical reading

Richard L. Barnett

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Barnett Richard L. Robbe-Grillet's La plage : a critical reading. In: Littératures 24,1977. Lectures au labyrinthe. pp. 93-112;

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 Ti

Robbe-Grillet's « La plage » :

a critical reading

BY
*
Richard L. BARNETT

Numerous studies hâve, in récent years, proposed as their focal

point the définition and/or « parameters » of a « nouveau roman »
in French literature. Other analyses, seemingly more incisive, less
categorical, and unquestionably more reflective of the trends in
contemporary literary-critical scholarship, hâve accurately conclu-
ded that efforts to establish such précise démarcations necessarily
labor in vain : the works of, among others, Michel Butor, Alain
Robbe-Grillet, Nathalie Sarraute, and Claude Simon boast many
more traits of dissimilarity than they share points of likeness (l).
Perhaps the most concise and yet éloquent affirmation of this
phenomenon of heterogeneity among thèse novelists is offered by
Pierre Curnier in the prefatory remarks of his detailed exegesis of
a brief extract from Robbe-Grillet's La Jalousie :
Alain Robbe-Grillet est désigné comme le représentant le plus
qualifié du nouveau roman par l'opinion générale. Mais on sait
qu'elle est, par nature, simplificatrice et qu'elle adore les clas-

(*) Doctoral Fellow in French literature Brandeis University. (Waltham, Mass.

U.S.A.)
(1) For illuminating commentaries on and analyses of the « nouveau roman»
as a literary movement, see, for example, Jean-Bertrand Barrère, La Cure
d'amaigrissement du roman (Paris, Albin Michel, 1964) ; Jean Bloch-Michel,
Le Présent de l'indicatif. Essai sur le Nouveau Roman (Paris, Gallimard, 1963) ;
L. Janvier, Une Parole exigeante (Paris, 1964) ; M. Nadeau, Le roman français
depuis la guerre (Paris, Gallimard, 1963); J. Ricardou, « Problèmes du nouveau
roman », Essais critiques (Editions du Seuil) . A more récent gênerai study in
English, dealing particularly with Simon, Butor, and Robbe-Grillet is J. Stur-
rock, The New French Novel (1969).
94 ANNALES DE L'UNIVERSITÉ DE TOULOUSE-LE MIRAIL

sifications. Volontiers, elle verrait une école et son chef. La

réalité est bien différente. Entre Robbe-Grillet et des «
» comme Nathalie Sarraute, Samuel Beckett, Michel
Butor, Claude Simon, Marguerite Duras, Louis-René Des Forêts,
Claude Mauriac, Robert Pinget, il n'est de commun que ce
qu'imposent l'évolution des idées dans tous les domaines et le
goût d'une époque ou d'une brève période. (2)

It must, of course, be borne in mind that the « nouveau roman »

is but a gênerai heading under which are amassed a variety of
highly individualized forms of literary expression. As such, it
repels attempts at universal synthesis or summary judgments.
And it is, in a sensé, a grave abuse of terminology to group under
the same banner writers who, both in theory and practice, bear
little resemblance. While it is an incontestable fact that ail of the
novelists so classified hâve, in some way, participated in and consti-
tuted an intégral part of a broad « movement » that Bernard Pin-
gaud has termed « L'Ecole du Refus » (in his article so entitled
that appeared in the July-August 1958 issue of Esprit) : « refus
du personnage et refus de l'histoire, bref, refus de tout ce qui,
constituait le roman » (3) it does not necessarily
follow (and, in fact, it does not hère follow) that, in their common
rejection and/or modification of the tradilional novel forms, thèse
writers react similarly, or that they think alike, or that their
works are any more bound to one another by the use of the rubric
« nouveau roman » than those of La Fontaine, Racine, and Boi-
leau are linked by the notion or ideals of « classicism ».
Understanding and accepting then, as one must, the uniqueness
and nonconformity inhérent in the créations of each so-called mem-
ber of the « new novel » school, it is only through close textual
analysis within the scope or self-contained unit of any one author's
works that we can revealingly study récurrent thèmes or obsessions,
techniques, images or symbols in an effort to extract or delineate
any generalized sensé or any practical application of a given
(4). And while it is true that « l'expression "nouveau roman"

(2) Pierre Curnier, « Alain Robbe-Grillet : La Jalousie », Pages

d'auteurs contemporains, tome II (Paris, Larousse, 1965), p. 243.
(3) Michel Raimond, Le Roman depuis la Révolution (Paris, Armand Colin,
1967), p. 221. An interesting study of the « nouveau roman » as an antitradi-
tional novel form is Pierre Cogny, Sept romanciers au-delà du roman (Paris,
Nizet, 1963).
(4) The relation of close textual analysis to textual « generativity » is
treated revealingly though, at times, indirectly in many of the works of Léo
Spitzer. See, for example, Linguistics and Literary History : Essays in Stylistics
(Princeton : Princeton Univ. Press, 1948) ; A Method of Interpreting Literature
(Northampton, Mass., 1949). See also, Reuben A. Brower, The Fields of Light.
 ROBBE-GRILLET's « LA PLAGE » : A CR1TICAL READING 95

recouvre... des entreprises fort divergentes » (5), it is equally unde-

niable that ail of the Works of any one writer are, in many respects
and on many levels, inséparable, i.e., they necessarily share some
form of a common denominator, although, on a surface plane, they
may well appear quite disjoint (6).
In this examination of Robbe-Grillet's « La Plage », a short
story of less than six pages in length (published in 1962 by Les
Editions de Minuit as one of a collection of « nouvelles » entitled
Instantanés) which critics bave for the most part neglected, I
shall call attention to principal éléments that are indicative of the
writer's longer and more highly acclaimed works, namely his
novels (7). « La Plage» is a wholly successful illustration of nu-
merous textual characteristics that regularly recur in
novels, earmarks peculiar to his writings which not only serve
to define or illuminate the Robbe-Grilletian method, but which, in
essence, embody his very conception of literature as well as an
implicit statement of his objectives (8). In terms of technique and
of the writer's satisfying his apparently sclf-imposed challenge,
« La Plage » is a fine pièce of prose. The remarkably dispassionate
précision, seemingîy impassible and immutable, and the ever-
present crescendo of intensive, accumulative détail (as effectively
employed hère as in Le Voyeur and La Jalousie) would almost
necessarily involve even the most uninspired of readers.
While modem literary criticism has stressed the indivisibility of
the traditional notions of «fond» and «forme» (9), the inter-

An Experiment in Critical Reading (New York, 1951); S. Etienne, Expériences

d'analyse textuelle en vue d'explication littéraire (Paris, 1953) ; Paul Goodman,
The Structurel of Literature (Chicago, 1954).
(5) Raimond, p. 219.
(6) Innumerable studies of major writers hâve been completed in which
the critic's principal objective is to draw parallels between the various works
of one writer's production (often the least successful and the most celebrated
are compared analytically). One such essay deals with one of Proust's earlier
novels which is viewed as a « préfiguration » (in a sensé) of his masterpiece
« A la Recherche du Temps Perdu » : Gianfranco Contini, « Jean Santeuil,
ossia l'infanzia délia Recherche », Il Libro Italiano (Mardi- April, 1952), pp. 3-26.
(7) Les Gommes (1953), Le Voyeur (1955), La Jalousie (1957), Dans le
(1959), La Maison d& rendez-vous (1965) to mention only some of
his celebrated works.
(8) Several of the best available studies dedicated solely to the theory and
art of Robbe-Grillet are Jean V. Alter, La Vision du monde d'Alain Robbe-
Grillet (Paris, 1966); Olga Bernai, Alain Robbe-Grillet : le roman de l'absence
(Paris, 1964) ; and especially Bruce Morrissette, Les Romans de Robbe-Grillet
(Paris, Editions de Minuit, 1963).
(9) The relationships between « forme » and « fond » are succinctly and
sensitively discussed in the « Introduction » to Helmut Hatzfeld, Initiation à
l'explication des textes français (Mûnchen, Max Weber Verlag, 1957), pp. 7-15.
96 ANNALES DE L'UNIVERSITE DE TOULOUSE-LE MIRAIL

relationship between thèse two phenomena proves absolutely essen-

tial to any meaningful interprétation of « La Plage ». The fact that
the « matter » of this story is, in large measure, determined by
the « manner » (the corollary of this assertion is equally valid)
is, of course, vital to understand. However, we may accurately
take this reasoning one step further by maintaining that any
or sensé in « La Plage » is an outgrowth or kin of its
literary format and that, simultaneously, what the writer has
proposed to express or to imply (or, for that matter, to omit)
détermines, régulâtes, and shapes the very means, nature, and
core of the présentation (structural make-up, imagery, etc.). So
then, with « fond » as a function of « forme », and « forme » a
function of « fond », it might appear that we are, as readers,
caught in a paradoxical web of indecipherability, in an inextricable
maze. In reality, such an affirmation is to exaggerate the plight
of the literary scholar. Indeed, each successive reading of « La
Plage » might convince one more that this brief text constitutes,
rather than anything else, a continuum of obsessive réitérations,
re-descriptions, vague, insignificant notations (insignificant, at least,
by traditional criteria), ail of which are but a composite reflection
of an identified writer's current state of mind at a particular
moment. And, in a certain sensé, such a conclusion is not without
reason. However, such a « verdict » would undoubtedly bring us face
to face with a number of highly complex, and perhaps unanswerable
questions bearing upon the very nature of literature and, too, of
literariness ? « Qu'est-ce que la littérature ? » has become, parti-
cularly since the Sartrean work so entitled, a prédominant sub-
ject in literary circles, and it is one that becomes inévitable and
crucial if an analysis of « La Plage » is to be at ail penetrating.
Some critics hâve, for example, disputed whether or not and/or
to what extent the works of Robbe-Grillet may be justly termed
« novels ». And it may well be that such a considération is, in itself,
indicative of a strain of critical arrogance if not of mère absurdity-
After ail, what, in essence, permits one to assume that Balzac's
Le Médecin de campagne is any more « novelistic » than Robbe-
Grillet's La Jalousie ? This rhetorical question is simply answered
as follows : nothing, except a tendency to identify a genre with
qualifies that « seemed » traditional ly to define it, e.g., plot, thème,
line of action, and so forth.
Perhaps the « inextricable maze » that critics would tend to
perceive in « La Plage » is of the reader's own making : in his
search for éléments which he has pre-fixedly established as
and in his subséquent discovery of the absence of thèse
 ROBBE-GRILLET'S « LA PLAGE » : A CRITICAL READING 97

éléments, the critic is often led to draw daring conclusions : not a

story-novel, lacking in plot (as though such a voluntary omission
is to be seen as a sort of dearth), without substance or form, a
text that leads us nowhere, void of action (again implying that,
in some manner, a murder is more suited to a literary work than is
a mère description of an ocean's waves); and so do some critics
continue ad infinitum, formulating, more than anything else,
value judgments. Indeed the reader cannot be expected to
fully objectify his analysis. By the very nature of literary criticism
this would prove an impossibility and, furthermore, were it
it would certainly be undesirable. As Michael Riffaterre pers-
picuously observes in his article « L'Explication des faits
» :

Premier point : le phénomène littéraire n'est pas seulement

le texte, mais aussi son lecteur et l'ensemble des réactions
du lecteur au texte énoncé et énonciation. (10)

A certain subjective « point of view » is essential, if textual

is to offer more than a computerized print-out of parts of
speech, frequency of repeated vocabulary, etc. However, the « ho-
nest » critic must always strive to attain a level of « objective
subjectivity », that is to say, subjectivity tempered by reason,
To this end, overpowering, all-encompassing decrees (e.g.,
statements evaluating the degree of sincerity or realism in a spe-
cified passage) should be minimized if not eschewed. As
strongly affirms :

L'explication de la rationalisation ne doit pas consister à la

confirmer ou à l'infirmer en fonction de standards ou d'étalons
extérieurs, c'est à ces standards extérieurs que les critiques ont
traditionnellement recours : ils confirment la rationalisation,
parlant de « vérité », d' « historicité », etc.; ils l'infirment en
la réduisant à une idéologie, en y reconnaissant la mythologie
d'une classe ou d'une époque, etc. (n)

Or course, « le texte est un code limitatif et prescriptif » (12), and,

as such, one has the right to décode it. However, this process of
« decoding » (or of interpretation-analysis) should be based on

(10) Michael Riffaterre, « L'Explication des faits littéraires », in Doubrov-

sky and Todorov, eds., L'Enseignement de la littérature (Paris, Pion, 1971),
p. 333.
(11) Ibid., pp. 333-334.
(12) Ibid., p. 336.
98 ANNALES DE L'UNIVERSITÉ DE TOULOUSE-LE MIRAIL

the text itself, and not on criteria exterior to the passage under
examination : to speak of the relation of a pièce of literature to
so-called reality is a powerfully subjective and somewhat meaning-
less approach, for, in the first place, « reality » is a relative
and, moreover, on what grounds ought one assume that the
function or design of a literary work is to represent what might
be considered « real ». One might then wonder whether, in fact, a
nightmare is less « real » (at least on the level of human
than dinner with a friend. Which leaves a more
mark ? What constitutes reality, the dreaded fear of cancer
or the appearance of the tumor ?
Thèse theoretical considérations are almost necessarily brought
to the forefront by a careful and contemplative reading of « La
Plage ». In an effort to understand this story or to présent an
analysis of it, the critic cannot ignore questions that this brief
text's specificity and peculiarity must stimulate. In turning now
to the text itself, in an attempt to décode it methodically and
revealingly, the text is to be perceived as an independent, self-sus-
taining unit (ie., not merely as one of a séries of créations of
Robbe-Grillet or as an illustration of tendencies associated with
the « nouveau roman », but rather as an intégral, comprehensive,
self-limiting and self-contained parcel, in brief, as a textual
whole) (13).
Conciseness, clarity of form, and simplicity (at least on a lexical
level) are those manifest textual qualifies which the reader of
« La Plage » is apt to first recognize. The opening paragraph, for
example, furnishes, in the course of four direct, syntactically re-
gular propositions, a descriptive setting of which the pristine fresh-
ness, the outward crispness, and the almost obtrusive naturalness
beckon our attention :

Trois enfants marchent le long d'une grève. Ils s'avancent,

côte à côte, se tenant par la main. Ils ont sensiblement la même
taille, et sans doute aussi le même âge; une douzaine d'années.
Celui du milieu, cependant, est un peu plus petit que les deux
autres, (p. 12) (14)

(13) The importance of « context » (and of analyzing the text as an entity)

is treated in Michael Riffaterre, « Sémantique du poème », Cahiers de
Internationale des Etudes Françaises, 23 (1971), pp. 125-143.
(14) « La Plage » is one of a collection of short stories grouped under the
heading of « Instantanés » as published by Les Editions de Minuit in 1962.
Ail page références to « La Plage » in this paper are referring to the reprinted
édition of the story in French Short Stories Nouvelles Françaises, éd. Pamela
Lyon (Middlesex, England : Penguin Books, 1966).
 ROBBE-GRILLET'S « LA PLAGE » : A CRITICAL READING 99

Upon reaching the end of the fourth sentence, one's curiosity is

whetted and, as ill-advised or futile as they might ultimately appear,
a number of common questions arise : which beach ? where ? when ?
why ? which three children ? why are they there ? what are they
doing or about to do ? where are they headed ? how will they figure
in the story, in the « action », in the text ? Even if it be at a
relatively subconscious level, the average reader will indeed seek
responses to thèse questions in the paragraphs to follow. But, of
course, such answers are not to be found in « La Plage », for, as it
turns out, this text is not designed to offer a portrayal of any
youths, nor to specify much at ail about any human beings, nor,
in fact, to relate any facet of life to those whose existence on the
beach is established as of the first sentence, nor even to inform
us of when this « existence » is or was (if we are to assume that
it is or that it ever wTas). If we accept the indicated description as
self-sustaining, without attempting to probe beyond the material
given, then we are apt to recognize the poetic flow of the phrases,
the tightly-structured patterns of descriptive prose, the seeming
objectivity of the affirmations. If, on the contrary, we pursue a
course of exegesis that implies the application of « traditional »
standards (i.e., if we seek additional détails about the children or
if we await a plot line), then we ourselves might well deform our
own appréciation of the text, by deflecting our thought in
which (at least in the case of «La Plage») would prove
fruitless. There is no reason based on the textual material of the
first paragraph to présuppose that the follow-up will elucidate,
further détail, or render more « meaningful » the few facts that
hâve been stated as of the onset. And one must consider whether it
is, in essence, valid to pose (or to seek answers to) questions gene-
rated by the reader's mind, though perhaps unrelated to the
specificity of the text's given.
To seek such sources of resolution, such « rationalizations » (as
Riffaterre labels them) is to compound the complexity of the stu-
died work. In sum, such a method of criticism proposes to inter-
pret not what is stated or implied in the text, but rather that which
is not. And this procédure constitutes, of course, an impracticable
and unproductive task : e.g., to attempt to deal with the éléments
that Robbe-Grillet has consciously excluded from « La Plage »
rather than to treat the existing textual components in an effort to
comprehend the true nature of the work, the underlying constants
(on a stylistic and linguistic level) that lend unity to the prose.
As one reaches the end of « La Plage », it has become évident
that the absence of apparent abstraction (we are, after ail,
100 ANNALES DE L'UNIVERSITÉ DE TOULOUSE-LE MIRAIL

steeped in the written représentation of a field of vision) and

of certain types of facts neither explains nor résolves the aura
of « mystère » and of « boundlessness » that infiltrâtes and flavors
the work. Clearly, the seemingly natural and unornamented lin-
guistic composition of the story belies a level and form of
which is présent, keenly felt, and yet challenging to enucleate.
And perhaps the most essential realization in reading this story
(essential, for it is hère that many are misled) is that the
genesis or the « primum mobile » of the obscurity that the reader
encounters or sensés is far more the product of stylistics (in its
broadest sensé), that is, of the text's «internai», prescriptive
nature, than of missing links or of a sparsity of facts. « Le fait est
que l'obscurité et l'ambiguïté font partie de la structure
du texte au même titre que les passages en clair » (15).
The reader of « La Plage » is caught up in a trance-like
as though in a mildly hypnotic state. His eyes seem to flow from
one paragraph to the next much the same as they would view,
from the ship's plank, endless waves, in their graceful ebbing. To
what might be attributed this condition of mind which Robbe-
Grillet's story générâtes ? The unyielding emphasis on « le regard »,
on the visual, the human gaze and perception, the painstakingly
minute depiction of the field of vision, the timelessness and, in
fact, the spacelessness of the visual focus, ail détermine, to a large
extent, the reader's expérience-réaction. As Roland Barthes so di-
rectly averred in his informative article entitled « Littérature
» (Critique, July-August 1954) :
L'objet n'est plus, chez Robbe-Grillet, un foyer de
un foisonnement de sensations et de symboles : il est
seulement une « résistance optique ».
And Michel Raimond says of Robbe-Grillet's novels :
Au lieu d'être l'expérience d'une profondeur, sociale,
ou « mémoriale », le roman de Robbe-Grillet était la
description d'un monde réduit à ses seules surfaces. (J6)
So then, the importance of the « object » cannot and should not
be disputed when reading « La Plage » : « it » is présent, « it » is
the nucleus of the text, « it » is the only source or point of compa-

(15) Riffaterre, «Sémantique du poème» p. 132.

(16) Raimond, p. 222. See also, in référence to the function of the «object»
in the work of Robbe-Grillet, ail of the studies mentioned in footnote n° 8.
See also, in this regard, Bruce Morrissette, « Lecture de La Jalousie », Critique
146 (1959), pp. 576-608; Jean R. Debrix, Les Fondements de l'art
(Paris, Les Editions du Cerf, 1960).
 ROBBE-GRILLET' S « LA PLAGE » : A CRITICAL READING 101

rison with respect to the three young persons on the beach. Inas-
much as there is an absolute exclusion of the traditional patterns of
introduction, climax, and dénouement, the omission of so-called
action, plot, events, émotion (as commonly defined), this emphasis
on the depicted « object » (i.e., the described scène in ail its facets)
cannot be minimized or even relegated to a position of secondary
importance. The « object », as critics of Robbe-Grillet hâve employed
the terni, is the very nature and being of « La Plage » and
both the « fond » of the story (of which it is the nucleus) and
the « forme » (of which it is a function).
A reading of « La Plage » leaves one unmoved, untouched, and
quite assuredly uncertain. Of course, some might be delighted or
impressed by the limitless beauty of the scène : « C'est une bande de
sable assez large, uniforme, dépourvue de roches isolées comme
de trous d'eau, à peine inclinée entre la falaise abrupte, qui paraît
sans issue, et la mer » (page 12). However, is this feeling the pro-
duct of the text itself ? It seems clear that Robbe-Grillet's
technique involves a cool, almost « geometrically précise »
and exacting array of notations and that the author's
accurately « verify » or establish the existence of parti-
cular objects (or events), but only from the exterior, and that a
concerted effort is made to avoid commentary, évaluation,
or judgmental conclusions. Hence, the reader's emotional
reaction is undoubtedly the resuit of pre-fixed notions, of remi-
niscent associations, of « affective » response. It is not a direct
reaction to the éléments that constitute the prose of Robbe-Grillet.
And yet it would be totally unjust and presumptuous to deny the
reader the right to such reactions or even to automatically inva-
lidate ail such subjective «feedback». In line with Riffaterre's
affirmation (cited previously) that the reader-reactions détermine,
in some measure, the text, so Robbe-Grillet, both in his essay « Le
roman comme recherche » (1955) and again in his « Une voie
pour le nouveau roman » (1956), lays stress upon the fact that :

... loin de le [lecteur] négliger, l'auteur aujourd'hui proclame

l'absolu besoin qu'il a de son concours actif, conscient, «
». Ce qu'il lui demande, ce n'est plus de recevoir
tout fait un monde achevé, plein, clos sur lui-même, c'est au
contraire de participer à une création, d'inventer à son tour
l'uvre et le monde et d'apprendre ainsi à inventer sa
propre vie.

« La Plage » is stripped of ail détail extraneous to the spécifies

of the limited (and still, paradoxically limitless) tableau « drawn »
by the writer. As in Le Voyeur and La Jalousie, there is a disrup-
102 ANNALES DE L'UNIVERSITÉ DE TOULOUSE-LE MIRAIL

tion of the traditional relationship that existed between reader and

text (") :
La confiance passive, fondée sur l'identification qui reliait le
lecteur au personnage romanesque est détruite au profit d'une
attitude critique, créatrice : c'est au romancier que le lecteur
doit maintenant s'identifier, c'est lui qu'il doit suivre dans sa
recherche (18).
And so it is both within the realm of right and responsibility of
the reader to strive to understand the work he is considering.
However, it is essential that the « interpréter » remain aware of
the distinction between the text itself (e.g., the descriptive matter,
etc-) and any added meaning (which may, of course, always be
subject to individual modification or rejection).
The point of view in « La Plage » is of particular interest, for
it brings to light another paradox : the dualism or dichotomy of
a simultaneously objective and subjective narration, of an
and yet « uninformed » narrator. This ambiguity is inhérent
(almost necessarily) in any so spécifie and limiting a description.
The specificity of the détails would imply that the narrator is rela-
ting first-hand expérience. As such, we might perceive him as
omniscient (at least within the scope of the material related).
However, the apparent lack of émotion, the paucity of facts (e.g.,
about the « characters » ) , and too, the rather cold, vague, timeless
and spaceless « attitude » or « mood » of the text might indeed lead
us to wonder whether the narrator's « knowledge » or « view » or
« outlook » is not extremely finite and tightly circumscribed. Si-
milarly, the limited, geometric-like précision of the descriptions
would tend to indicate an objectified vision; however, thèse same
qualities, if understood as a function of a sélective process (i.e.,
what to relate, what not to relate, how to relate it, etc.) involve,
then, a great deal of subjectivity. And, therefore, it may be said of
« La Plage » that on a semantic or lexical level, Robbe-Grillet achie-
ves a remarkable degree of objectivity, while on a psychological
level (or on the plane of ideas), this objectivity is clearly subject to
much réfutation. And how objective or subjective the text really

(17) Interesting comments are made regarding the new relationships esta-
blished between writer-narrator-text-reader in the works of Robbe-Grillet in
J. Sturrock, « The "Nouveau Roman" », in French Literature and its Back-
ground, éd. John Cruickshank, Vol. 6 (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1970).
(18) Jacques Bersani, Michel Autrand, Jacques Lecarme, Bruno Vercier, La
Littérature en France depuis 1945 (Paris, Bordas, 1970), p. 578. It is worth
noting that ail of the chapters in this collective work dedicated to the «
roman » are solid and informative (and take note of the most récent
trends in literary-critical scholarship) : pp. 553-627.
 ROBBE-GRILLET' S « LA PLAGE » : A CRITICAL READING 103

is would thus be determined by the exact définition that one attri-

butes to such terminology.
The « mental » universe which Robbe-Grillet depicts is, indeed,
exclusively his own. While the storyteller might wish his language
to act as a diaphanous vessel, inevitably the « eyes » of the writer
must interpose themselves between the text and the reader. After
ail, it is a field of vision that is described, and we must assume
that there is no field of vision without one who perceives it, just
as some hâve argued that there is no textual significance without
a reader.
We discern in « La Plage » a genre which might indeed
the birth of a more supple, more malléable literary form,
a form which in its very direct simplicity, its lack of pretentiousness,
and its simultaneously descriptive and vague method reveals
perhaps the development of a somewhat mystico-lyrical, poetic
prose. This « pseudo-genre », by its exactness of form, ils symmc-
trical (if not géométrie structure, its répétitive, cyclical
(lending unity and cohérence to the text as a whole), its
rhythmic, cadenced movement, and its perspicuous use of the
inter-relations between « fond » and « forme », envelops many of
the resources and attributes most often associated with poetry.
I shall briefly examine a number of thèse éléments as they are
manifested in the following extract from the story :

Devant eux le sable est tout à fait vierge, jaune et lisse depuis
le rocher jusqu'à l'eau. Les enfants s'avancent en ligne droite,
à une vitesse régulière, sans faire le plus petit crochet, calmes
et se tenant par la main. Derrière eux le sable, à peine humide,
est marqué des trois lignes d'empreintes laissées par leurs
pieds nus, trois successions régulières d'empreintes semblables
et pareillement espacées, bien creuses, sans bavures (p. 14).

Undoubtedly, one of the outstanding qualities of the above-cited

passage is its metrical flow- The paragraph is divided into three
sentences, each successive one longer than that which précèdes
it, and each, in turn, composed of a séries of qualifications, grace-
fully inserted by means of somewhat parenthetical phraseology.
The progression in sentence length serves not only to embellish
the writer's style, but such a gradation process succeeds too in
building up a certain « tension » and « mystical » atmosphère in
the text. Hence, the reader waits even more eagerly for the «
» or « event » or « point » that, of course, never turns up.
Our curiosity is thus heightened and may not find any appease-
ment in the text. The fréquent pauses in the paragraph, resulting
from the abundance of commas, establish a number of rhythmic
104 ANNALES DE L'UNIVERSITÉ DE TOULOUSE-LE MIRAIL

patterns, accentuate the « poetic » texture of the text, and lend an

air of précision to the description. Above ail, the flowing, smooth,
peaceful movement of the paragraph is, in itself, expressive of
the very sensé which it dénotes. Robbes-Grillef's minute detailing
of the youths' manner, of their measured, continuous, somewhat
effortless motion (always implicitly compared with the endless
seascape and beach) is noteworthy in that the style of the passage
(its flow) parallels (almost to an ironie degree) the facts denoted
by the written words. Hence, a relationship is clearly established
between the stylistic System or arrangement, the structural
of the text, and the denotative significance of the extract
on a semantic and/or lexical level. Indeed, style in « La Plage » (as
manifested in this paragraph) is an inséparable counterpart of the
objects and « events » depicted.
From the onset of « La Plage », the reader is engulfed in a work
and in a world of intensive, almost mathematical détail : we cannot
ignore the importance that is evidently accorded to the linguistic
representation-delineation of objects, of éléments of décor, of
landscape and of location. Nor can we minimize the effect on the
reader of the quasi-scientific character of this descriptive

Structurally, it may be said that « La Plage » is built on alter-

nating patterns that range from description of three children to
the description of the beach (where they are located). The reader
finds himself being oscillated between the two domains : the human
and the physical (or natural) worlds. It must be noted, however,
that both description of sand and that of living beings is, in
« La Plage », based on exterior considérations only. Robbe-Grillet
never deals with psychological phenomena. He does not reveal the
youths' mental processes, their ideas, likes or dislikes. He treats
not at ail the personalities. His portrayal of the children is as
scientific, cold, and non-human as that of the sand, or water, or
sky. And, in fact, at certain moments in the story, the children
seem so intégral and inflexible a part of the beach that one tends
to no longer differentiate (at least not in any formalized sensé)
between the organic and inorganic- Perhaps this was precisely one
of the objectives of Robbe-Grillet's method. Several critics hâve
interpreted as one of the central thèmes of the Robbe-Grilletian
novels the sublimation of man, of his rôle in a complex universe,
and of his works. I do not know that any textual éléments in « La
Plage » furnish us with proof of the secondary (or perhaps ter-
tiary) place that, some claim, has been accorded to mankind in
thèse novels. What is clear, however, is that, in this story, the des-
 ROBBE-GRILLET'S « LA PLAGE » : A CRITICAL READING 105

criptive process does not distinguish between man and his envi-
ronment. That is simply to say that man exists as do his surroun-
dings and as does the flock of seabirds walking along the shore,
just at the edge of the waves. However, neither the birds nor man
takes pre-eminence over the other nor over the virgin sand, yellow
and smooth from the rock to the water.
Since, traditionally, physical détail has tended to reduce esthetic
distance, the fact that such détail does not bring us closer to the
narrator or to the text in the case- of « La Plage » signais again
Robbe-Grillet's skillful, individualistic use of seemingly common
techniques.
The répétitive, cyclical patterns in the text (the alternations
between man and his surroundings and, in fact, the intermingling
of the two to a point of fréquent indistinguishability), the fluid,
unlabored textual progression (conditioned by the regular insertion
of adjectival and adverbial phrases), and the circumscription of
the direct field of vision, ail account, in large measure, for the
« sameness » and the « opacity » of the text. By « sameness », I
refer to the lack of diversity within the various divisions of the
story. Each sentence, each qualification, each successive paragraph,
and, in turn, each textual division constitutes a descriptive conti-
nuum : the narration opens with a simple statement establishing
the existence of three children : « Trois enfants marchent le long
d'une grève » (page 12) . The narration is terminated by a one-
sentence paragraph describing the motionless sea and the same
little breaking wave : « Sur la droite, du côté de l'eau immobile
et plate, déferle, toujours à la même place, la même petite vague »
(page 22). It is more than ironie and, in fact, a resuit of the unmis-
takable artistry of the writer, that the diction (Aristotle's termino-
logy for the choice of words) translates semantically this otherwise
somewhat intangible and abstract textual quality that I hâve, for lack
of a better term, characterized as « sameness ». The very use of
the adjective « même » (and, too, of the adverbial and substantive
forms) abounds and serves to accentuate the fact that the text
is structured according to reiterative séquences : each passage of
détails is comprised, at least in part, of an écho or recapitulation
of previously-affirmed facts : Example : Paragraph one, sentence
two : « Ils s'avancent, côte à côte, se tenant par la main » (page 12).
Paragraph five : « Et tout reste de nouveau immobile, la mer,
plate et bleue, exactement arrêtée à la même hauteur sur le sable
jaune de la plage, où marchent côte à côte les trois enfants »
(page 12). Paragraph five : « Ils marchent côte à côte, se tenant
par la main, en ligne droite... » (page 13). The degree to which the
106 ANNALES DE L'UNIVERSITÉ DE TOULOUSE-LE MIRAIL

text is repetitious, not aijproximately repetitious, but replète with

word-for-word restatements is worth noting and clearly defines
the élément of « sameness » to which I hâve heretofore referred-
Again, the intertwining, multi-faceted, pre-arranged relation-
ships between « fond » and « forme » are re-affirmed : répétition
of language results in sentences and paragraphs that are as indis-
tinguishable from one another as are many of the passages depic-
ting the children from those painting a picture of the physical
world. This quality of sameness (that some critics hâve called
« unicité ») lends uniformity to the text, and produces one
principal effect : the text must be read as an intégral unit, for ail
images and seemingly individualized détails are but the components
of one convergent linguistic représentation. Perhaps in Robbe-
Grillet's persistent use of terms such as « même » and
« toujours » : ... « la même taille, et sans doute aussi le même
âge », « une vague soudaine, toujours la même, s'enfle brusquement
et déferle aussitôt, toujours sur la même ligne », « Et tout reste
de nouveau immobile, la mer, plate et bleue, exactement arrêtée
à la même hauteur... », « Sur la droite, du côté de l'eau immobile
et plate, déferle, toujours à la même place, la même petite vague »
(to cite only several of many examples) — signais his désire to
communicate to us (by his very diction) the « unicité » of his
method, the « unicité » of the visual image he is relating, if not
the « unicité » of his world vision (vision du monde). Once the
reader has noted and understood the intimate relationships
between that which is expressed and the manner or means of
expression, much of the writer's art is unfolded. In fact, it is within the
realm of thèse very intra-textual filiations that one discovers the
îiterary value of Robbe-Grillet's « La Plage », rather than in an
effort to evaluate its verisimilitude or to interpret the significance
of the depicted panorama :

... le recours au réel isole les significations les unes des

autres, chacune étant conçue comme un rapport entre une
composante textuelle et quelque chose d'extérieur au texte, au lieu
de les considérer dans leurs combinaisons intralextuelles (*9).

John Sturrock, in his informative article entitled « The Nouveau

Roman », states explicitly that to judge Robbe-Grillet's fiction by
means of external criteria (i.e., by means of its relation to the
« real world ») is not a particularly effective method of attack :

(19) Riffaterre, « Sémantique du poème », p. 126.

 ROBBE-GRILIJET's « LA PLAGE » : A CRITICAL READING 107

It is the basic theory of the « nouveau roman » that fiction

exists by virtue of the ambiguity of single facts, or the discon-
tinuity between sets of facts... The « nouveau roman » does not
try to conceal the fact that it opérâtes, as literature must, on
the level of the reflective consciousness and not on that of direct
observation. On the contrary, there are ail sorts of dues, at
any rate in Butor and Robbe-Grillet, that the novel represents a
partial or total withdrawal from any active participation in the
real world (20).

Sturrock's point is well taken. But if we are to accept the assertion

that in « La Plage » the descriptive process is more (or as much)
a product of « reflective consciousness » than of « direct
observation », how do we explain the apparent effort on the part of the
writer to présent an objectified transcription of a visual expérience ?
I hâve, in part, responded to this plausible question in my previous
comments. By the very fact that the process of « transcription »
involves sélection, omission, choice of diction, etc., and by virtue
of the fact that any depicted scène is perceived (at one point or an-
other) through human eyes (and mind), it is clear that some degree
of subjectivity is inhérent in the description. Hence, in its purest
form, objectivity must be automatically ruled oui. Furthermore,
inasmuch as literature (and particularly the works of writers such
as Robbe-Grillet), is conceived by many reputable critics as an
« expérience d'aliénation » rather than as a simulation of « the
real world », we would hâve to carefully re-define « objectivity »
before applying it (or, for that matter, its opposite) to « La Plage » :
is objectivity related to the « sincerity » of the writer ? If, for
Robbe-Grillet, the depicted scène was a reality (even if an imagined
reality), is it objective ? If the description so happens coincidentally
to faithfully illustrate a set of conditions that did or do indeed
exist (but of which the author was not conscious at the time of
the writing), is the description less objective, more créative, more
or less real or meaningful ? In other words, do our terms apply to
the writing process itself (i.e., the writer's mental functions, etc.)
or to our évaluation of the concrète facts ? Undoubtedly, Robbe-
Grillet has striven in « La Plage » (as, for example, in many
sections of La Jalousie) to présent a seemingly real, factual, and
rigorous account of the scène he détails. And if we are to measure
précision or objectivity by the quantity or quality of conscious
efforts exerted by a writer to achieve apparently dispassionate rea-
lism, then thèse qualifies may certainly be associated with « La

(20) Sturrock, «The "Nouveau Roman"», pp. 287-288.

108 ANNALES DE L'UNIVERSITÉ DE TOULOUSE-LE MIRAIL

Plage ». Whether, in fact, the supplied sketches are relative to our

« real world » is and always will be subject to debate.
In part, the paradoxical nature of « La Plage » proceeds from
abundant, exacting détail which, in essence, reveals little, for, as
previously discussed, ail of the offered visions are « exterior »
ones. While we are without a pause immersed in an array of
spécifies and of qualifications, the context, which is more or Iess
vague and void, renders thèse particulars somewhat difficult to
assimilate. In a sensé, the reader is involved in the most nebulous
core of précision, in an abstract world of concrète détail. And some
hâve questioned whether there exist any parallels between the
somewhat impénétrable, insolvable, and even recondite nature of
« La Plage » and the works of Rimbaud or of Mallarmé. Of course,
this question is a complex and multi-faceted one. Without over-
simplification, it might be said that there are few similarities tex-
tually between the works of Robbe-Grillet and those of the symbolist
poets, except that both hâve a tendency to leave the inexperienced
or uninformed reader at a loss. On one level, one might assert
lhat, in the symbolist works, it is the interprétation of the given
that is the central challenge offered to the reader : oddities of syn-
tax, hermetically sealed symbolic units difficult to perforate. In
« La Plage », however, the given does not really necessitate much
interprétation. The challenge that this story présents is more related
to its anti-traditional form : its lack of those features traditionally
associated with literature. Hence, the reader, in an effort to compre-
hend the art of Robbe-Grillet, is left with the following problem :
what basically is he commiinicating to us through this story (if he
is) ? What is the conception of literature that this pièce of writing
implicitly pro vides ? What were the objectives of the author in
writing this story ? Were they effectively realized ? If so, how ?
If not, how not and why not ? Of course, many of thèse questions
remain wholly unanswerable, and those who hâve, to date, attemp-
ted to respond to them, hâve founded their conclusions, above ail,
on personal opinions and/or conjecture.
To this point in my considérations, I hâve attempted to explain
what accounts in « La Plage » for an almost necessarily nebulous
and subjective reaction/conclusion on the part of the reader and,
too, of the literary scholar. I hâve discussed the dichotomous nature
of the text with respect to the simultaneously studied-like
précision and vague, abstract descriptive analysis. The three chiîdren to
whom the writer refers in the first paragraph (and on several
subséquent occasions) are never portrayed as we might expect them
to hâve been. We know and learn nothing of them as human beings
 ROBBE-GRILLET's « LA PLAGE » : A CRITICAL READINO 109

or as individuals, other than some very generalized information

pertaining to their relative height, complexion tint, etc. Any addi-
tional meaning, importance, or détails that the reader supposes
is a product of his own conceptualization or of his effort to make
sensé out of paradox or absence. Actually, as is rather évident
throughout the story, the essential (if not the only) function of
the children lies in their spacial relations with respect to surroimd-
ing « objects » or éléments of « décor ». Many paragraphs deal
uniquely with the youths' physical placement (and displacement),
particularly as thèse relate to the spécifies of, for example, sky,
sea, and sun :
Leur triple ligne se développe, toujours plus loin, et semble
en même temps s'amenuiser, se ralentir, se fondre en un seul
trait, qui sépare la grève en deux bandes, sur toute sa longueur,
et qui se termine à un menu mouvement mécanique, là-bas,
exécuté sur place : la descente et la remontée alternative de six
pieds nus (p. 16).
Although I am not primarily concerned with the many possible
interprétations of « La Plage » (or with the « thematic » intentions
of the writer which, at best, one could only surmise), we cannot
fully ignore the monotonous, static concept of life which seems
to be an implicit part of the given descriptions : a world view founded
on répétition, a vision of existence embodied in a dream-like, per-
sisting ambiance of imiforrnity, of undefined spacial limits, and,
too, of timelessness. Of course, it may be maintained (and correctly)
that this « world view » is hardly original in the context of twen-
tieth century French literature. But then, as wTe hâve previously
indicated, Robbe-Grillet's claim to famé is founded far more on
his « technique », and on his concept of literature than it is on
any form of psychological analysis or on the « contents » (as tradi-
tionally defined) of his works. And nevertheless, it would be futile
to attempt to read « La Plage » without perceiving the universal
vision that, unintentionally or intentional]y on the part of the
story's creator, flavors the text. To speak of intentions would, in
any event, prove somewhat fruitless, as Michel Raimond so elo-
quently affirms :
Le roman de Robbe-Grillet était objectif dans la mesure où
il traitait l'objet comme une « résistance optique »; il l'était
surtout dans la mesure où il se débarrassait de l'analyse
abstraite au profit des éléments concrets d'un contenu mental. A
ce titre, les intentions de Robbe-Grillet étaient fort complexes,
car la présence démultipliée de l'objet renvoie à la subjectivité
d'une conscience percevante, fût-elle non située, — ce « je-
néant » dont parle Bruce Morrissette, mais elle renvoie aussi à
un art de la fascination. Le roman ne se situe plus sur le che-
110 ANNALES DE L'UNIVERSITÉ DE TOULOUSE-LE MIRAIL

min qui va de la réalité à son reflet, mais sur celui qui va

d'une « création » à une « lecture ». Il n'y a plus, pour le lec-
leur, un destin à assumer dans l'imaginaire, mais un
envoûtement à subir (21).
John Sturrock believes that, in the works of Robbe-Grillet, Ihere
is a sort of conflict or struggle raging between the objective and
the subjective (or mythical). He states unequivocally that :
« ... Robbe-Grillet's novel and films dépend on a tension,
between the imagination's tendency to fabricate myths and its
necessary recall to reality. Geometry therefore means the death
of the myth just as the création of the myth means the death
of geometry. In this way Robbe-Grillet establishes a dialogue
between the eye that measures and the eyelid that enables the
mind to escape from the real world (22).
The use of metaphor in « La Plage » is rather limited, though
describing light as « violente », for example, is certainly not without
metaphorical value. In gênerai, however, as Robbe-Grillet clearly
realizes, metaphor and other such devices of style can be seemingly
unscientific, in their very effort to unité or compare two distinct
objects or notions. Hence, where mathematically-oriented précision
is an objective (at least on the level of « le paraître »), tenuous
comparisons would tend to prove counter-productive.
Symmetrically, the reader notes in « La Plage » a dual
progression : the slow but constant, unyielding movement of the children
along the sand, and the fïow of tirne, the ebbing of waters, the
shifting positions and reflections of the sun's rays. The sea's cur-
rents, the regulated, incessant, unvaried motions within the fra-
mework of their habituai pattern mesmerize the reader while
compïementing and lending strength to the steady progression of
light and movement. The perspective is wholly visual, ail efforts
being directed towards a measurement, a limit, a location, or per-
haps a définition. We cannot neglect, however, an implicit rela-
tionship which is established between persons and objects : « The
vertigo created by an object-oriented universe, more or less devoid
of human beings, is but the result of an unverifiable hypothesis,
for the very absence of man is significant » (23).
Again we must consider the impersonal level of the writer's style.
Robbe-Grillet is sensitive to the notion that language is a bîinding
force (or, at least, can act as such), a potential obstacle to human
understanding and communication, for in its affective light, it is

(21) Raimond, p. 222.

(22) Sturrock, «The "Nouveau Roman"», p. 291.
(23) La littérature en France depuis Î9k5, p. 589.
 ROBBE-GRILLEt's « LA PLAGE » : A CRITICAI, READING 111

often more reflective of a momentary state of mind than of that

which, on a larger scale, it strives to depict. By consciously opting
for a predominately impassive, unemotional, unaffected vocabulary
(e.g., expressions which dénote the simple existence of the « object »,
adjectives which express a visual criterion rather than those which
are evaluative, etc.), Robbe-Grillet is, at least, aiming towards a
faithful représentation of the universal traits of ail that he des-
cribes- The « object » is thus to acquire an independent identity.
According to Castex and Surer : « Avec Alain Robbe-Grillet, le
roman devient l'inventaire méthodique et impassible de l'univers
tel qu'il est perçu par un regard libéré de toute convention » (24).
While this generalization does, indeed, comprise a certain degree
of exaggeration (e.g., Robbe-Grillet is, in a sensé, revolting against
traditional forms and standards, but does not, nevertheless, ever
succeed in totally liberating himself from ail so-called «
conventions »), it does indicate the « directions » that one discerns in
« La Plage ».
A study of « La Plage » points up many of the ambiguities, sub-
tleties, paradoxes, and daring contradictions that operate harmo-
niously in and that are tightly entwined around the works and
the théories of Robbe-Grillet : the natural at odds with the fabri-
cated or mythical, the objective versus the subjective, émotion as
opposed to reason or fact, the visual as compared with mental
perception, the real or « natural world » vis-à-vis fiction. So too, the
questions of the relation of man to the universe, and of our terres-
trial existence to the éléments of time and space are stimulated
by a reading of this brief but intensively-written story. And, of
course, the very « theory » of literature is implicitly dealt with :
traditional versus the « new » school of writing, rôle and objectives
of the writer in our modem times, the relationships between style,
structure, form and contents, meaning, message. Perhaps the most
lucid and penetrating summary of the Robbe-Grilletian objective
is that which he himself wrote in his article entitled « Un Vote pour
le roman futur » (Nouvelle Revue Française, July, 1956, p. 82) :

A la place de cet univers des « significations »

(psychologiques, sociales, fonctionnelles), il faudrait donc essayer de
construire un monde plus solide, plus immédiat. Que ce soit d'abord
par leur présence que les objets et les gestes s'imposent, et que
cette présence continue ensuite à dominer, par-dessus toute
théorie explicative qui tenterait de les enfermer dans un
quelconque système de référence, sentimental, sociologique, freudien,
métaphysique, ou autre.

(24) Manuel des étudeis littéraires françaises — XXe siècle.

112 ANNALES DE L'UNIVERSITÉ DE TOULOUSE-LE MIRAIL

In summation and recapitulation, « La Plage », as a prose text,

is accessible to us through a multiplicity of means, each of which
is rather more dépendent upon the reader's spécifie manner of
perception than on traits intrinsic to the textual éléments themselves.
Nevertheless, it must be borne in mind that « La Plage » is a meti-
culously structured, pre-arranged, and intricate network of linguis-
tic and stylistic phenomena, which, in turn, tend to inform, color,
and shape our interprétation of, appréciation for, and reaction to
the text. I hâve attempted in this essay to delineate numerous and
often complex intra-textual relationships and functions that are
intended to participate in the very formulation and nature of our
perception. The reader must take note of the intensely close-knit
array of obsessive descriptions-répétitions, simultaneously success-
ful and yet futile attempts at purely scientific, objective art (a dicho-
tomy which is again the product of ambiguous terminology),
multiple quests in search of a geometrically definable universe, man's
ambiguous rôle (his relativity and indistinguishability) and his
relation to, movements or function in, and escape (either as
human being, reader, or writer) from the « real world », a world
which is, paradoxically, a complex composite of external realities
and of internai myths galore. Intricately woven through the few
pages that constitute « La Plage » is the « substantifique moelle »
(the life-sustaining marrow) of Robbe-Grillet's « nouveau roman ».