Prétérition et ambiguïté énonciative: les doubles sens de "Lokis" de Prosper Mérimée

Prosper Mérimée's "Lokis" has been interpreted in radically different ways by critics. However enigmatic or self-contradictory as it may appear, the text of "Lokis" actually interrogates the conception of a unitary self, the fallacy of civilized behavior, as well as the nature-culture dichotomy, by constructing binary oppositions at various semantic levels (qualification, attributes, topography, time . . .) This cogent strategy is reinforced at the enunciative level by the rampant use of preterition, which also happens to constitute the essence of the fantastic. Such technical coherence however, far from being enigmatic, begs the question of Mérimée's skill and purpose. (In French) (PM)