Fonctions et statut de l’animal chez Jean Giraudoux

In Giraudoux’s writings (he was an admirer of La Fontaine) animals are legion. An anthropomorphic perspective runs through his early novels and his dramatic works. As a literary object, the animal is indeed the raw material of metaphors and witticisms. However, Giraudoux denounces the shameful treatment of animals and human cruelty towards them. When the writer finds himself in the presence of animals, his anthropocentrism vanishes in the face of their embodied reality, a magic that nourishes poetic inspiration.