Ornament, fantasy, and desire in nineteenth-century French literature / Rae Beth Gordon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gordon, Rae Beth, 1940- author.

Series:

Princeton Legacy Library ; 192

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

French literature--19th century--History and criticism.

French literature.

French language--19th century--Figures of speech.

French language.

Psychoanalysis and literature--France.

Psychoanalysis and literature.

Fantasy in literature.

Desire in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (307 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

Course Book

Other Title:

Ornament, fantasy, and desire in 19th century French literature

Ornament, fantasy & desire in nineteenth-century French literature

Ornament, fantasy & desire in nineteenth-century French literature.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [1992]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In this examination of the role of ornament in nineteenth-century French literature, Rae Beth Gordon shows that ornament, far from being a simple accessory, raises problems that are at the very heart of aesthetic experience: limits and their transgression, illusion and seduction, pleasure and tension, harmony and confusion, excess and marginality. After placing texts by Nerval, Gautier, Mallarm, Huysmans, and Rachilde within the context of the history and techniques of the decorative arts, she reveals in these works the powerful role played by decorative figurations of syntax, diction, and composition. Gordon's detailed textual analyses yield spatial parallels with specific ornamental configurations (interlace, arabesque, decorative frame, horror vacui, trompe l'oeil). These patterns are then studied in relation to a dynamics of desire. Ornament, taken as the site of desire and illuminated by the theories of Charcot, Clrambault, Freud, Winnicott, and Lacan, highlights important differences between romanticism, symbolism, and decadence. Not only does the author relate ornament to artistic representations of the sublime, the grotesque, and hysteria, but she also reveals that the function of ornament in literature anticipated psychiatric and aesthetic research on decorative form in the fin de sicle.Originally published in 1992.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Preface

AN INTRODUCTION TO ORNAMENT

PART I: ROMANTICISM

CHAPTER ONE: The Enchanted Hand: Schlegel's Arabesque in Nerval

CHAPTER TWO: Lace as Textual Metaphor in Nerval's Sylvie

CHAPTER THREE: Trills, Frills, and Decorative Frames for the Object of Desire

CHAPTER FOUR: The Evil Eye: Ornamental Vision as the Sublime

PART II: SYMBOLISM AND DECADENCE

CHAPTER FIVE: Trompe l'Oeil in the Poems of Mallarme

CHAPTER SIX: Aboli Bibelot? Excess, Void, and Objectless Desire

CHAPTER SEVEN: Ornament and Hysteria: Huysmans and Rachilde

CONCLUSION

Appendix

Notes

Index

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

Description based on print version record.

Spine title: Ornament, fantasy & desire in nineteenth-century French literature.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [249]-279) and index.

ISBN:

0-691-63510-2

0-691-60633-1

1-4008-6266-3

OCLC:

889250901