Memory and desire: retif de la bretonne, autobiography and utopia - Couverture souple

Wagstaff, Peter

 
9789042000285: Memory and desire: retif de la bretonne, autobiography and utopia
Couverture souple
ISBN 10 : 9042000287 ISBN 13 : 9789042000285
Editeur : Editions Rodopi B.V., 1996

Synopsis

This study challenges the conventional view of Rétif de la Bretonne as a chronicler of eighteenth-century France and notorious exponent of 'la littérature galante', to provide both students and scholars with a fresh analysis focusing on two themes autobiography and utopianism which feature prominently in his writing. It suggests that each is the product of similar impulses, reflecting common polarities between public and private, self and others, past and future. In tracing Rétif's persistent but frustrated attempts to reconcile the conflicting elements of the world he inhabits rural and urban, old and new, stable and changing this volume analyses the failure of his utopian dream of a well-ordered and harmonious society. By exploring his absorption in the autobiographical project, and in particular Monsieur Nicolas ou le cur humain dévoilé, it offers an interpretation of his work as a sustained reflection on selfhood and on the power of memory which enables Rétif to create, within the confines of the text, a utopian space where self and world are reconciled, and time and space no longer count.

Les informations fournies dans la section « Synopsis » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Présentation de l'éditeur

This study challenges the conventional view of Rétif de la Bretonne as a chronicler of eighteenth-century France and notorious exponent of 'la littérature galante', to provide both students and scholars with a fresh analysis focusing on two themes autobiography and utopianism which feature prominently in his writing. It suggests that each is the product of similar impulses, reflecting common polarities between public and private, self and others, past and future. In tracing Rétif's persistent but frustrated attempts to reconcile the conflicting elements of the world he inhabits rural and urban, old and new, stable and changing this volume analyses the failure of his utopian dream of a well-ordered and harmonious society. By exploring his absorption in the autobiographical project, and in particular Monsieur Nicolas ou le cur humain dévoilé, it offers an interpretation of his work as a sustained reflection on selfhood and on the power of memory which enables Rétif to create, within the confines of the text, a utopian space where self and world are reconciled, and time and space no longer count.

Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Éditeur
Editions Rodopi B.V.
Date d'édition
1996
Langue
anglais
ISBN 10 
9042000287
ISBN 13 
9789042000285
Reliure
Broché
Nombre de pages
177
Coordonnées du fabricant
non disponible
Personne responsable
non disponible