In recent years the goal of many artists has changed from the desire to represent the real as perfectly as possible to the quest for non-representation. This change in conceptualization has been explained by certain academics as the result of the modernity's deconstruction of the traditional subject-artist/object-world dichotomy. Without putting into question this interpretation, I would like to propose a parallel interpretation of the deconstruction of traditional representation in terms of another duality, idealism. I believe that in both cases the active principle is the same: one desires that which perpetually escapes one's grasp; when representing one in vain seeks the perfect imitation of the real; when idealizing, one imagines a perfected vision of the real. This thesis attempts to examine the close relationship between the desire for literary representation and the desire to idealize found in certain works of French literature.