SOURCE: "Militancy in the Making: The Example of Le Bachelier," in Stanford French Review, Vol. XI, No. 3, Fall, 1987, pp. 331-44.

In the following essay, van Slyke discusses Le Bachelier as an example of militant autobiography, using such an approach to demonstrate how the novel brings both author and reader into the text. In proposing to study Vallès's Le bachelier as an example of what I call militant autobiography, my aim is not to dispute the justly deserved reputation of this work. I do, however, wish to examine the paradoxical means by which Le bachelier has achieved that recognition. Why I say "paradoxical" will, I hope, become clear in the course of these reflections upon militant autobiography.

First off, one must ask whether Le bachelier may be considered a legitimate example of autobiography. This work does not conform to the autobiographical pact, as defined by Philippe Lejeune; that...