The Function of the Métaphore Filée in En rade

"La dérive d'une vie," that of the hero in En rade, is metaphorized by the dérive of narra-tive, composed of a complex network of metaphors. In 1893, Paul Souriau proposed that metaphor makes a fleeting representation pass into the unconscious. Dreams and hysteria, states in which the unconscious holds sway, are of considerable importance in this text. An analysis of the way that metaphor works will shed light on the relationships between dream and reality, and between consciousness and the unconscious in general. The double fil of extended metaphor is also metaphorized as a bifurcating road, the road of narrative and the labyrinthine path the hero's thoughts take. In fact, route or chemin is not only a metaphor for the text and for extended metaphor itself, but also for the complex pathways of the nerves and brain. If the road or path of narrative is also a representation of nerves/brain, then retracing these pathways of metaphors would be a way of following the text's attempt to dissect the brain and uncover the links between dream and reality, the double sphere of activity that characterizes this novel.