Emploi absurde et identité abstraite dans les Baldwin de Serge Lamothe

Abstract

At first sight, labour is not the main subject of The Baldwins. The short stories collected in this book reveal a posthistorical world and tell us about the survival of some beings in a time that is beyond the end. This collection of portraits presents the account of those who survived, accounts compiled by the Baldwin Institute. In spite of the abolition of the salaries constraints, the functions and the employment status remain the entrance door to the narratives of these wanderers. Why? In order to answer this question, I will insist on each reference to employment and on the survival of the Baldwins. I will then question what could have happened in this time behond the end of time that made work become nonsense but still represents a form of identity. I will articulate this identity with posthistoricity and I will conclude with the loss of deep human experience into a turboliberalist system.