For a rhetoric of delirium

During his lifetime, Octave Mirbeau (1849-1917) was renowned for his talents as a committed and feared journalist, a novelist of remarkable ability, an acerbic pamphleteer, a playwright whose plays are still performed, and a much sought-after art critic. The aim of this study is to show how the notion of delirium is central to the author's novels. We frame our research within the framework of passion stylistics. Thus, our study is an attempt to show concretely that delirium has its own rhetoric, that violent passion influences our style, and that writing delirium is a symptom of the unbalanced and troubled mind.