Reconceptualizing the Everyday in French Literary Fieldwork: Intersections of Buddhism, Daoism and French Literary Practice

This article explores the intersections of Buddhism, Daoism, and contemporary French literary practice in the study of the everyday (quotidien).Since the 1980s, French literature has increasingly shifted its focus from the exotic to the mundane, engaging with theoretical frameworks developed by scholars such as Henri Lefebvre and Michel de Certeau.Drawing on Buddhist notions of emptiness and dependent arising, as well as Daoist principles of yin-yang interdependence, the article bridges Eastern and Western philosophies to demonstrate the everyday not as a static or trivial backdrop, but as a dynamic and transformative space.It further examines how representations of daily life in the works of Georges Perec and Jacques Roubaud employ the meticulous documentation of mundane details to uncover hidden patterns, rhythms, and structures of human experience.Through literary fieldwork, Perec and Roubaud challenge conventional perceptions of the everyday, unveiling its depth, complexity, and potential for reinvention.