LA CONSTRUCTION DU TEMPS NARRATIF ET LA MONTEE PROGRESSIVE DU SUSPENSE DANS CHANSON DOUCE : UNE ETUDE DES MECANISMES STYLISTIQUES ET PSYCHOLOGIQUES DE LA VIOLENCE DOMESTIQUE

Abstract:

In Chanson douce, Leïla Slimani builds suspense through an innovative narrative structure, announcing the children's murder by their nanny from the very first pages. This prolepsis transforms the reading experience into an investigation of causes rather than consequences. The fragmented narrative, alternating between Louise's past, her present with the Massé family, and the foreshadowing of the tragedy, creates sustained tension. The analysis reveals how stylistic devices like obsessive repetitions, narrative ellipses, and internal focalization serve to explore the protagonist's psychology. Louise, torn between devotion and destruction, embodies the mechanisms of domestic violence. Her gradual erasure of identity and social precarity are the drivers of the tragedy. Beyond a psychological thriller, the novel uses suspense to expose structural violence. Class dynamics, economic injustice, and social tensions form the backdrop of an individual drama that raises questions of collective responsibility. Slimani moves beyond news item to offer a meditation on contemporary societal flaws, where extreme violence emerges from the accumulation of daily micro-aggressions.

Keywords : Suspense, Domestic violence, Narrative temporality, Psychology, Social precarity