Michel Butor Summary

Michel Butor's enduring reputation may well rest on his four early novels, published from 1954 to 1960. Although he has not, since Degrés of 1960, published a work that resembles a novel in the... Read more

Critical Essay by Vivian Mercier Michel Butor occupies a paradoxical situation in what we may call the hierarchy of the nouveau roman. On the one hand, he has written four novels of unquestionable tho... Read more

Critical Essay by Kathleen O'neill Michel Butor's Passing Time is a story in which the detective hunts himself. In this circular, self-contained structure any connection with an external... Read more

Critical Essay by Valerie Minogue In his various novels, Butor explores the nature of reality and the part imagination plays in our perception—or creation—of it. In L'Emploi du Te... Read more

Critical Essay by George Craig Michel Butor's explicit re-working of dreams began with Matière de rêves. That has now become the general title, and Second sous-sol is Volume 2. Bu... Read more

Critical Essay by Anna Otten Michel Butor, in his skillfully written Matière de rêves III, carefully constructs content and form. But here, much more than [in the two previous volumes of... Read more

In the following essay, Kline explores manifestations of the metatextual and the metacultural in Degrés. Since its publication thirty years ago, Michel Butor's Degrés has been rea... Read more

In the following essay, Burton uses Mikhail Bakhtin's theories concerning narrative and language to explore the significance of travel and cultural difference in Butor's novels. Despite ... Read more

In the following review, Schenk praises Butor's compilation of essays focusing on Japan from a diverse group of French intellectuals, but judges Butor's commentary on the selections as &... Read more

In the following positive review, De Julio praises A la frontière for pushing boundaries and reconsidering standard distinctions between the self and the other. Experimentation with the concept... Read more

In the following review, Bishop praises Mais où sont les rouilles d'antan for its scope and levity. This is a book, composed of nine at once concise and ample half-versified texts, by on... Read more

In the following essay, Mason discusses Butor's preoccupation with “whiteness,” how it manifests itself in his writing, and how Belgian artist Christian Dotremont influenced Butor... Read more

In the following essay, Miller analyzes Butor's representations of death and decay, arguing that—while our culture attempts to deny the process of physical decomposition that comes with ... Read more