Monsieur Spitzweg vit à Paris depuis trente ans. Image du temps dans le roman de Philippe Delerm II avait plu tout le dimanche

In her article E. Biardzka discussed the use of grammatical tenses in Philippe Delerm’s novel Il avait plu tout le dimanche. The protagonist of the novel is Arnold Spitzweg - a Parisian of Alsatian origin. In Delerms novel Biardzka distinguished three thematic parts that do not comply with the book’s formal division into chapters. The first part (55 pages) is devoted to the presentation of everyday events that illustrate Spitzweg’s habits, manners and likings. In this part Delerm uses the present tense. The second - romantic - part comprises 10 pages. In this piece the author describes a secret idyll experienced by the protagonist who is in love with his colleague from work. The present tense is replaced with the past tense (past simple) at the moment when love reaches Spitzweg. In the third part (42 pages) the protagonist rejects the feeling and returns to his previous lifestyle. In the narration we observe the return of the present tense, which was replaced with the past tense only for the presentation of the childhood memories, moral and philosophical reflections. Each of the thematic parts of the novel is characterized by the use of a different tense. The chosen tenses are meant to closely match the construction of the presented world.