La Ve République des Lettres1989 and the realism debate

The revival of realism for francophone literature has been widely addressed. The essay argues that this comeback stems not only from a social crisis, but from an urgent need to justify the social world. If this new realism can be said to emerge at the end of the 1980s, then its driving force is a melting away of universalism - a loss of claims to global legitimacy, or to speak with a validity encompassing all of human experience, that manifests itself as a fundamental problem in representing the world.

Automated summary

The essay discusses the revival of realism in francophone literature and argues that it is driven not only by a social crisis but also by a pressing need to justify the social world. This new realism emerged in the late 1980s and is motivated by the loss of universalism, which refers to the inability to make claims of global legitimacy or to speak with a validity encompassing all human experiences, ultimately posing a fundamental problem in representing the world.