1980 to the Present : Chance in the Age of Data Chapitre d’ouvrage - Janvier 2024

In the early twenty-first century, chance underpins the confrontation between, on the one hand, geo-economic globalisation and the ecological crisis, which together complicate notions of determinism and resist interpretation, and, on the other hand, mathematical tools whose power is unprecedented. In this context, chance remains above all a powerful narrative mechanism in contemporary literature. A driver of encounters and deviations, the intervention of chance in the narrative gives rise to events that put an end to regularity and amplify individual potentialities. Conceived as a form, chance distorts the logic of narrative processes. Performed by contemporary narration, it adds extra layers to natural complexity and to the meanders of human decision-making, appearing not only as the necessary condition of modern humanity but also as an illustration of this complexity and of the barely predictable “chaotic processes” it engenders. From Jean-Pierre Balpe’s text generators to Sophie Calle’s creative wanderings, contemporary chance shows itself to be the result of deliberate creative processes and speaks to entangled forms of determinism that are too complex to grasp.