Dans ce numéro d’Études françaises, les éditeurs nous offrent un riche panorama autour du thème « le regard et de la proie ». Un aspect particulier se dégage de cette considération : la chasse tant réelle qu’allégorique. Pourtant, à la manière de Magritte, les éditeurs soulignent, dans leur introduction, que ceci n’est guère un dossier spécial sur la chasse. Il s’agit plutôt de souligner comment l’imaginaire cynégétique participe du regard car qui dit regarder dit forcément traquer. Cette approche thématique soulève alors les questions du désir, de son objet ou sujet, de la quête qu’il engendre et de son inassouvissement essentiel, y compris dans le geste de l’écriture fictionnelle. Autre considération : la spécularité, « la relation en miroir, qui préva[ut] entre le regard et la proie » et son renversement éventuel (8). Ainsi, dans la majorité des articles se retrouve la perspective psychanalytique ; freudienne évidemment, mais principalement lacanienne. Par conséquent, le double, son étrange ressemblance et dissemblance, se voit forcément également évoqué ; notamment la frontière équivoque – et elle aussi réversible – entre proie et prédateur.

Born in 1979 in Friborg, Isabelle Flükiger is a French-speaking Swiss author currently living in Bern. She began in literature with the publication of a short story in 2001: “Oublis,” fifth winner of the Young Francophone Writers Prize. Four novels followed: From the sky to the stomach (2003) , To struggle again (2004) , The empty space of the monster (2007) and Best-seller (2011). The latter was translated into German (2013) and is very successful in the German-speaking world. Flükiger also maintains a blog on which she regularly posts short stories. Finally, she explores other art forms related to her writing such as the audio recording of some of her short stories as well as the making of a photo film, Ghost Town (2007) , and trailers for the release. of bestseller .

Claire Legendre emerged on the French literary scene in 1997 with her novel Making-of. A prolific writer, she went on to publish an additional five novels,1 an anthology of short stories (Le Crépuscule de Barbe-Bleue, 2001), two co-authored books with Jérôme Bonnetto,2 four plays,3 one book-length essay (Le Nénuphar et l’araignée, 2015), as well as numerous smaller essays and short fictions. Despite this prolixity, Legendre’s publications have, thus far, garnered little academic attention.4 Two reasons may explain her current marginality within the field of French Studies. Her second novel, Viande (1999), relegated her to the late1990s trend of scandalous and sexually graphic publications by women writers (Authier 13-31; Bessard-Banquy 25, 95; Schaal TVFL 154-56, 223-24). Her work was, thus, promptly dismissed as antiliterary and a mere fad (Schaal “Portrait...” 26; Schaal TVFL 155-56). Then, although published by Grasset, Legendre has never actively participated in the French or Parisian literary world. She was born and remained in Nice during the early stages of her career, she subsequently moved to Prague (2008-2011), and now resides in Québec where she teaches Creative Writing at the Université de Montréal. This geographical distance has prevented her publications from garnering significant media and cultural exposure in France or elsewhere (Legendre “Personal Correspondance...”).

The first two volumes of Virginie Despentes's trilogy, Vernon Subutex (2015), offer an assessment of the "Génération Mitterrand" and those born during François Mitterrand's presidency (1981-95). Drawing on sociological and historical studies, this article argues that Vernon Subutex charts the contemporary consequences of the neoliberal turn taken during Mitterrand's era. This socioeconomic context significantly impacted the characters' identities and life paths: while some have benefited from class privileges, others have fallen down the social ladder. As for the younger generation, it has internalized the rules of the neoliberal system.