Thresholds of meaning : passage, ritual and liminality in contemporary French narrative / Jean H. Duffy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Duffy, Jean H., author.

Series:

Contemporary French and francophone cultures ; 18.

Contemporary French and francophone cultures ; 18

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

French fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

French fiction.

French fiction--21st century--History and criticism.

Liminality in literature.

Rites and ceremonies in literature.

Autobiographical fiction, French--History and criticism.

Autobiographical fiction, French.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 356 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Liverpool : Liverpool University Press, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Thresholds of Meaning examines contemporary French narrative and explores two related issues: the centrality within recent French fiction and autofiction of the themes of passage, ritual and liminality; the thematic continuity which links this work with its literary ancestors of the 1960s and 1970s. Through the close analysis of novels and récits by Pierre Bergounioux, François Bon, Marie Darrieussecq, Hélène Lenoir, Laurent Mauvignier and Jean Rouaud, Duffy demonstrates the ways in which contemporary narrative, while capitalising on the formal lessons of the nouveau roman and drawing upon a shared repertoire of motifs and themes, engages with the complex processes by which meaning is produced in the referential world and, in particular, with the rituals and codes that social man brings into play in order to negotiate the various stages of the human life-cycle. By the application of theoretical concepts and models derived from anthropology and from visual studies, the study situates itself at the intersection of the developing field of literature and anthropology studies and research into word and image.

Contents:

At death's door: illness, ritual and liminality in Darrieussecq, Lenoir, and Mauvignier

Suicide and saving face in Bon, Mauvignier and Bergounioux

Commemoration, monument and identity in Bergounioux, Darrieussecq and Rouaud

Retouching the past: family photographs and documents in Rouaud, Bon and Lenoir

Conclusion: writing passage and the passage to writing.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 02 Oct 2015).

ISBN:

1-78138-791-5

1-84631-679-0

OCLC:

741491885