General & Miscellaneous French Literature - Literary Criticism, 18th Century French Literature - Literary Criticism, Rhetoric
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Overview
Challenging the view of epistolary narrative as a faulty precursor to the nineteenth-century realist novel, Elizabeth MacArthur argues that the openness and flexibility that characterize correspondences, both real and fictional, reflect the preoccupations of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Her readings of the Lettres portugaises, Mme du Deffand's correspondence with Horace Walpole, and Rousseau's La Nouvelle Hlose propose an alternative to closure-oriented theories of narrative as they uncover an interplay between two forces: a tendency towards closure and meaning (metaphor) and a tendency towards openness and desire (metonymy). While such an interplay structures all narrative, the epistolary form differs from the third or first person in the extent to which metonymy predominates. The author shows how critics and editors of correspondences have attempted to control their metonymy, channeling epistolary energy into univocal meaning. By juxtaposing real and fictional epistolary works, MacArthur reveals the similarities between the two, particularly their "extravagance": ambiguity, openness, and forward-moving energy.Editorials
Booknews
MacArthur contrasts real and fictional letters from the 17th and 18th century to show the dominance of metonymy and ambiguity over metaphor and meaning in the genre. She examines the birth of the form, Madame du Deffand's correspondence with Horace Walpole, and Rousseau's Julie. Originally a 1986 doctoral thesis. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)Book Details
Published
July 1, 1992
Publisher
Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, c1990.
Pages
312
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780691067933