Filiation protéiforme | 2026

252 Andreea DOBRESCU Abstract: The biological filiation, as a connection between predecessors and successors defined in terms of proximity or distance, identification or non-identification, represents the constituent of an individual’s personality, shaping their behavior and responses. From this perspective, the biological filiation accounts for an individual’s natural predispositions, as they inherit a psychological legacy that is further shaped by their family environment.Through the depiction of filiation in Jean-Luc Coatalem’s work, one observes a dynamic shaped by the parent-child relationship, establishing (dys)functional interactions in which the Other serves as either a model or an anti-model. Accordingly, by focusing on two of Coatalem’s books - Suite indochinoise: Récit de voyage au Vietnam (1999) and La part du fils (2019), we will examine the figure of the (grand)father as the cornerstone of family life and the most iconic figure in an offspring development. We will then focus on a particular case – the decline of filiation caused by the absence of male figures. More specifically, we will explore the physical or psychological absence of the (grand)father, which disrupts the offspring genealogical ties to their lineage. The final section of our analysis will address the theme of the family (in)quest as a mechanism to fill in genealogical gaps and to overcome transgenerational traumas in an effort to restore familial bonds. Keywords: Jean-Luc Coatalem, filiation, intergenerational bond, transmission, hereditary trauma. Ioana MARCU Abstract : This article explores how displacement and the search for origins influence identity construction in two contemporary Francophone novels: La Mer Noire dans les Grands Lacs by Annie Lulu and Loin de mon père by Véronique Tadjo. Through the figures of Nili and Nina, two narrators confronted with the absence or silence of the father, these narratives depict a hollowed-out filiation that triggers an intimate and memorial investigation. Displacement - geographical, symbolic, and temporal - becomes a key mechanism of restitution, allowing the protagonists to reconstruct a fragmented family memory and to reinsert themselves into a lineage. By intertwining individual memory and collective history, these novels offer a reflection on transmission, repair, and self- redefinition. Far from being mere travel narratives, they engage in a dynamic of identity reconstruction, where speech, inquiry, and memory become tools of resilience in the face of inherited silence. Keywords: filiation, displacement, (re)construction of identity, memory, father’s absence.