The Poetics of Elements in Michel Tournier’s Novel “Friday, or the Pacific Limbo”: The influence of Gaston Bachelard’s Philosophy

This article examines the influence of Gaston Bachelard's philosophy on the poetics of Michel Tournier's novel «Friday, or the Pacific Limbo». Tournier, inspired by the works of his teacher on the four natural elements, constructs the images of the elements in the structure of the novel as binary oppositions. The process of Robinson's initiation on the island is directly related to the dynamics of these images. The main opposition in Tournier's novel arises between the earth and the air. In the course of analyzing the motivic structure of the novel, we come to the conclusion that Tournier's hero, Robinson Crusoe, is a dreamer of the earth. Air metaphors in the hero's subconscious initially have negative connotations. Air in Tournier's poetics and in Bachelard's philosophy is a childish free element, with which the savage Friday is associated. For Tournier, as for Bachelard, a child is an ideal, which is why Friday is Robinson's initiator, contributing to his spiritual metamorphosis. The article analyzes the symbolic content of antinomic images, which allows us to deepen our understanding of the characters of Tournier's heroes, their mentality, and the similarities and differences in their thinking. Having passed the test of all four elements in the «Limbo of the Pacific Ocean», Robinson Crusoe becomes the Demiurge. The alchemical subtext in the novel is connected with the idea of the transmutation of the soul, which is capable of regaining the perfection of the original androgynous being and its power.

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