Vestiges du polar et retour du politique. Une lecture comparée de Manchette et d’Echenoz

If the detective story is a genre in which every detail counts, then Manchette and Echnoz prove the exception to the rule, in that they both, in their own ways, repeatedly break this rule, while at the same time not entirely forgetting it. Details appear in both authors’ works, first of all in terms of the intertexts which link the two, and more generally in terms of a common generic failure to provide detail. An analysis of Manchette’s Fatale , and of two passages of Cherokee and Au piano by Echenoz, will demonstrate the progressive divergence of these two notions, as the use of detail acquires a metanarrative value and, finally, political importance. In this sense, Echenoz continues the political work of Manchette, allowing details to recall left-leaning values which are not as readily expressed by the current ideological discourse.