Abstract

French translations of Japanese comic books have now become an important part of the French-speaking literary world. Through an analysis of the reception of nekketsu shonen manga inside the European French territory, this thesis aims to analyze and explain manga's literary integration in France. The first step consists in characterizing the epistemic context of contemporary France. This thesis considers that the latter context is that of hypermodernity, which is characterized here by four main elements: speed, fragmentation, anxiety and individualism. Based on this premise, this thesis attempts to demonstrate the existence of several correspondences between the act of reading shonen manga and the hypermodern reader, by using theories of literary reception (Fish, Jauss, Jouve), comics theory (Groensteen, McCloud, Morgan) and media theory (McLuhan, Ong, Vandendorpe). Hence, first of all, manga correspond to hypermodern frenzy by encouraging an accelerated reading. Secondly, they correspond to the hypermodern being's accentuated individualism by emphasizing the characters' intimate quests; at the same time, they provide the contemporary French reader with an unsettling reading experience, in which the reader finds both a crystallization of his own identity-related instability, and a way to counter the latter. Thirdly, manga are representative of secondary orality, a hybridization of orality and literacy which is a part of hypermodernity. Finally, manga evoke resonances which correspond to the new media-related habits of the 21 st century reader.