Biography and the Question of Literature in FranceThis book takes a fresh look at the relations between literature and biography by tracing the history of their connections through three hundred years of French literature. The starting point for this history is the eighteenth century when the term 'biography' first entered the French language and when the word 'literature' began to acquire its modern sense of writing marked by an aesthetic character. Arguing that the idea of literature is inherently open to revision and contestation, Ann Jefferson examines the way in which biographically-orientated texts have been engaged in questioning and revising definitions of literature. At the same time, she tracks the evolving forms of biographical writing in French culture, and proposes a reappraisal of biography in terms not only of its forms, but also of its functions. Although Ann Jefferson's book has powerful theoretical implications for both biography and the literary, it is first and foremost a history, offering a comprehensive new account of the development of French literature through this dual focus on the question of literature and on the relations between literature and biography. It offers original readings of major authors and texts in the light of these concerns, beginning with Rousseau and ending with 'life-writing' contemporary authors such as Pierre Michon and Jacques Roubaud. Other authors discussed include Mme de Stäel, Victor Hugo, Sainte-Beuve, Barbey d'Aurevilly, Baudelaire, Nerval, Mallarmé, Schwob, Proust, Gide, Leiris, Sartre, Genet, Barthes, and Roger Laporte. |
From inside the book
Page 303
... Mots ' , in Michel Contat ( ed . ) , Pourquoi et comment Sartre a écrit Les Mots ' : genèse d'une autobiographie ( Paris : Presses universitaires de France , 1996 ) , pp . 293-319 ; Jacques Lecarme , ' Sartre palimpseste ' , in Contat ...
... Mots ' , in Michel Contat ( ed . ) , Pourquoi et comment Sartre a écrit Les Mots ' : genèse d'une autobiographie ( Paris : Presses universitaires de France , 1996 ) , pp . 293-319 ; Jacques Lecarme , ' Sartre palimpseste ' , in Contat ...
Page 398
... Mots ' , in Contat ( ed . ) , Pourquoi et comment Sartre a écrit Les Mots ' [ 1996 ] , pp . 293–319 . Deleuze , Gilles , Proust et les signes , 7th edn . ( Paris : Presses universitaires de France , 1986 ) . [ Trans . Richard Howard ...
... Mots ' , in Contat ( ed . ) , Pourquoi et comment Sartre a écrit Les Mots ' [ 1996 ] , pp . 293–319 . Deleuze , Gilles , Proust et les signes , 7th edn . ( Paris : Presses universitaires de France , 1986 ) . [ Trans . Richard Howard ...
Page 405
... Pourquoi et comment Sartre a écrit ' Les Mots ' [ 1996 ] , pp . 183–248 . Table des allusions et des concordances intertextuelles dans Les Mots ' , in Contat ( ed . ) , Pourquoi et comment Sartre a écrit ' Les Mots ' [ 1996 ] , pp . 249 ...
... Pourquoi et comment Sartre a écrit ' Les Mots ' [ 1996 ] , pp . 183–248 . Table des allusions et des concordances intertextuelles dans Les Mots ' , in Contat ( ed . ) , Pourquoi et comment Sartre a écrit ' Les Mots ' [ 1996 ] , pp . 249 ...
Contents
xiii | 29 |
Rousseaus LifeStory and the Experience of Literature | 46 |
Madame de Staël | 57 |
Copyright | |
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aesthetic André André Gide appeared artist autobiographical Barbey d'Aurevilly Barbey's basis Baudelaire Baudelaire's becomes biographical writing biography Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve claims collective conception contemporary creative critical death described dictionary discussion essay example existence fiction figures Fleurs France Gallimard Gautier Genet genius genre Gérard de Nerval Gide Gide's hommes Hugo Hugo's ibid individual Jacques Roubaud Jean Genet Joseph Delorme kind La Nausée language Leiris Leiris's Les Contemplations literary portrait literature's littérature lives Madame de Staël Mallarmé Marcel Marcel Schwob means Michaud moral narrative Nerval nineteenth century novel Œuvres original Paris perspective Pierre Michon poems poésie poet poet's poète poetic poetry Portraits littéraires Préface present principle produced prose Proust published question readers relation Rémy de Gourmont Roubaud Rousseau sacred Saint-Chéron Sainte-Beuve saints Sartre Sartre's says Schwob Théophile Gautier Victor Hugo Vies imaginaires Villiers vocation words