Journal of the stylistic of Persian poem and prose
volume Number 19، number In Volume 9، December 2026 ، issue Number 127

Reflection of the Textual Unconscious in the Novel Vertigo: An Analysis of Repetition, Rupture, and Slippage Based on Jean Bellemin-Noël’s Theories

Maryam Nezami , Andia Abai (Author in Charge)

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In psychoanalytic literary criticism, the analysis of the mechanisms through which the unconscious manifests itself in the text plays a fundamental role in understanding the process of meaning production and the separation of the literary work from the author’s psyche. This approach considers the text beyond the author’s mind and regards it as an independent structure in which the unconscious emerges through visual and linguistic elements. Drawing on the approach of psychoanalytic literary criticism, the present study examines the reflection of the textual unconscious in Joël Egloff’s novel Vertigo.

METHODOLOGY: This study relies on the theories of Jean Bellemin-Noël. According to this approach, the textual unconscious emerges from the interaction between linguistic structures, imagery, and narrative processes and becomes visible through the act of reading. Using a qualitative textual analysis, this research examines the novel through three levels: narrative, linguistic, and visual. Three key passages from the novel were selected based on the presence of repetition, narrative rupture, visual density, and spatial and identity slippage, and were analyzed at these three levels.

FINDINGS: The findings indicate that the network of negation and temporal continuity, the accumulative listing of bodily images, and the displacement of spatial and identity-related signs transform the text into an autonomous space for the emergence of the unconscious.

CONCLUSION: The results demonstrate that surrealist techniques are not equivalent to the textual unconscious; rather, they provide the textual material necessary for the formation of this psychoanalytic reading.

Keyword
Textual unconscious , Jean Bellemin-Noël , Vertigo , surrealist techniques , psychoanalytic literary criticism.