The open boundary of history and fiction : a critical approach to the french enlightenment / Suzanne Gearhart.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gearhart, Suzanne, author.

Contributor:

American Council of Learned Societies.

Series:

Princeton legacy library.

Princeton Legacy Library

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

French literature--18th century--History and criticism.

French literature.

France--Intellectual life--18th century.

France.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 300 p. )

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, 2019.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Challenging the view that a critical sense of history is missing from the Enlightenment, Suzanne Gearhart links the works of Voltaire, Montesquieu, Diderot, and Rosseau with the inquiry into the boundary between literature and history in contemporary critical discourse. She considers the theories of Levi-Strauss, Foucault, Althusser, Genette, White, de Man, and Derrida in order to develop a critical approach to fiction and history and to reveal that investigations into the foundations of historical knowledge, and specifically into what distinguishes history from fiction, were central to the Enlightenment. This book questions many assumptions basic to contemporary criticism by establishing a dialogue between major theorists and Enlightenment figures. It challenges certitudes of fiction and literature by examining the historicity of language, form, and literature itself, redefining history to show its crucial relevance to literary studies and opening historiography to the insights of literary theory. Suzanne Gearhart is Associate Professor of Literature at the University of California, San Diego. Originally published in 1984.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:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Open Boundary Of History/Fiction

Chapter One. (Voltaire) Establishing Rationality In The Historical Text: Foucault And The Problem Of Unreason

Chapter Two. (Voltaire) The Question Of Genre: White, Genette, And The Limits Of Formalism

Chapter Three. (Montesquieu) The Cultural Boundaries Of History: Levi-Strauss, Structuralism, And The Paradoxical Situation Of The Outsider

Chapter Four. (Montesquieu) Idealism And History: Althusser And The Critique Of Origins

Chapter Five. (Conmlac, Diderot) The Limits And Conditions Of Empirical Knowledge Or The Theaters Of Perception

Chapter Six. (Diderot) The Boundaries Of Narrative: Determinism And Narrative Theory

Chapter Seven. (Rousseau) The Theatricality Of Nature And History: De Man, Derrida, And The Historicity Of Language

Conclusion: History/Fiction And Contemporary Theory

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 20. Jun 2019)

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780691655703

0691655707

9780691198125

0691198128

OCLC:

1086484390