Lire selon Quignard : une microlecture de Terrasse à Rome

Abstract

Terrasse à Rome (2000), a short novel by Pascal Quignard, demands a fragmentary mode of reading, one dominated by description and guided by associative, multifaceted movements. Through a close reading of a passage, this article explores the role of reading in Quignard’s work both as a readerly gesture and as a recurring thematic motif linked to errancy. The novel’s discontinuous and shifting prose calls for a reading pact attuned to the demands of scriptural wandering, challenging the reader with elliptical writing that suggests more than it explains. Only by embracing a “Quignardian” mode of reading can one fully enjoy the pleasures of wandering and connect the motifs of the text, thereby renewing the conventional paradigm of reading.