Fictionalized biography in the French graphic novel of the 21st century (based on works by B. Egger and M. Poirson & R. Mara"i)

The representation of a famous person, in particular a famous writer, became one of the significant areas of literary creativity in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The genre of fictionalized biography allows authors to create works that are at the intersection of fiction writing and literary studies. This article deals with two graphic novels by contemporary French authors: Molière: du saltimbanque au favori (2022) by M. Poirson and R. Maraï, Moscou endiablé, sur les traces du Maître et Marguerite (2013) by B. Egger. These works have not been translated into Russian. Using the example of these graphic novels, the article identifies the main features of fictionalized biography and the peculiarities characteristic of this genre in the French literature of the 21st century. The contemporary writers provide a global view of the human ability to resist the society in which one lives while choosing his/her own path based on the relationship with creativity. The novelists gain this perspective by reinterpreting the life of a famous author and placing at the heart of the work personas of famous writers from different centuries that were marked by turning points in the history thereof (17th century in France in the Poirson and Maraï’s book and the beginning of the 20th century in Russia in the Egger’s graphic novel). The genre of the graphic novel allows their authors to combine visual and textual components, forcing the reader to rethink, ‘reread’ already known facts, and literally take a fresh look at the famous person whose fate they connect with their own, as well as with the general history of the world literary process, which should encourage the reader to make their own moral choice.