Reconstructing woman : from fiction to reality in the nineteenth-century novel /
Kelly, Dorothy, 1952-
Reconstructing woman : from fiction to reality in the nineteenth-century novel / [print] Dorothy Kelly. - University Park, Pa. : Pennsylvania State University Press, (c)2007. - 1 online resource (178 pages) - Romance studies . - Penn State Romance studies. .
Includes bibliographies and index.
The science of control -- Transformation, creation, and inscription: Balzac -- Women, language, and reality: Flaubert -- Rewriting reproduction: Zola -- Villiers and human inscription -- The power of language.
Annotation Reconstructing Woman explores a scenario common to the works of four major French novelists of the nineteenth century: Balzac, Flaubert, Zola, and Villiers. In the texts of each author, a new Pygmalion (as Balzac calls one of his characters) turns away from a real woman he has loved or desired and prefers instead his artificial re-creation of her. All four authors also portray the possibility that this simulacrum, which replaces the woman, could become real. The central chapters examine this plot and its meanings in multiple texts of each author (with the exception of the chapter on Villiers, in which only LEve future is considered). The premise is that this shared scenario stems from the discovery in the nineteenth century that humans are transformable. Because scientific innovations play a major part in this discovery, Dorothy Kelly reviews some of the contributing trends that attracted one or more of the authors.
9780271022246 9780271034966 9780271049441 9780271054803
French fiction--History and criticism.--19th century
Women in literature.
Sex role in literature.
Electronic Books.
PQ653.K29.R436 2007
Reconstructing woman : from fiction to reality in the nineteenth-century novel / [print] Dorothy Kelly. - University Park, Pa. : Pennsylvania State University Press, (c)2007. - 1 online resource (178 pages) - Romance studies . - Penn State Romance studies. .
Includes bibliographies and index.
The science of control -- Transformation, creation, and inscription: Balzac -- Women, language, and reality: Flaubert -- Rewriting reproduction: Zola -- Villiers and human inscription -- The power of language.
Annotation Reconstructing Woman explores a scenario common to the works of four major French novelists of the nineteenth century: Balzac, Flaubert, Zola, and Villiers. In the texts of each author, a new Pygmalion (as Balzac calls one of his characters) turns away from a real woman he has loved or desired and prefers instead his artificial re-creation of her. All four authors also portray the possibility that this simulacrum, which replaces the woman, could become real. The central chapters examine this plot and its meanings in multiple texts of each author (with the exception of the chapter on Villiers, in which only LEve future is considered). The premise is that this shared scenario stems from the discovery in the nineteenth century that humans are transformable. Because scientific innovations play a major part in this discovery, Dorothy Kelly reviews some of the contributing trends that attracted one or more of the authors.
9780271022246 9780271034966 9780271049441 9780271054803
French fiction--History and criticism.--19th century
Women in literature.
Sex role in literature.
Electronic Books.
PQ653.K29.R436 2007