Résumé

I propose to study the unique characterization of fathers and father figures in Percival Everett’s fiction. From Suder (1983), the author’s first published novel, to the freshly released Percival Everett by Virgil Russell (2013), fatherhood is arguably a central theme in the author’s oeuvre. Surprisingly, it has been virtually absent from any criticism on the author. Using Ralph Ellison’s unnamed narrator in Invisible Man as the ancestral point of origin of a « disembodied voice » addressing his readers on « lower frequencies », I will trace that voice up through the trope of the oxymoronic invisible presence of fathers in Everett’s work, and their diegetic and spiritual functions for lost son and daughter characters.

L'auteur

Clément-Alexandre Ulff teaches at Rouen University as an ATER. He is currently preparing a PhD at Versailles-Saint-Quentin University, entitled « L’invention de l’Amérique dans l’œuvre de Philip Roth », an author on whose work he already published several papers with the Presses Universitaires de Rennes, in volumes edited by Professor Paule Lévy. His research focuses on ethnic and metafictional writing.

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