Books in the Research Monographs in French Studies series

The French art novel, with its tales of artists, models and creative struggles, is often thought to be a specifically nineteenth-century phenomenon, which dies out by 1900. This wide-ranging, interdisciplinary study argues that the art novel does not in fact disappear but rather undergoes a series of transformations in the early twentieth century, in step with radical changes in the visual arts of the period. Examining both well-known and all-but-forgotten novels, Shingler examines the ways in which they move on from their nineteenth-century predecessors, as the development of avant-garde movements makes questions of aesthetic value and authenticity ever more pressing; as changing gender roles increasingly put pressure on writers to acknowledge female creativity; and as the emergent art of the cinema comes to compete with painting as the primary visual reference point for writers.Katherine Shingler is Assistant Professor in French and Francophone Studies at the University of Nottingham.

The award-winning writer Pascal Quignard (1948-) has published many texts and has collaborated with painters, musicians and filmmakers. Yet despite the popularity and critical recognition of his work, Quignard remains a discreet and fleeting presence in the current cultural landscape, sharing with other contemporary French writers the belief that literature is a form of self-effacement.In this first critical study in English, Léa Vuong offers a comprehensive survey of Quignard's still growing oeuvre by examining his specific attempts to produce disappearance through -- and for -- writing. His texts and collaborations appear as vanishing acts where the writer, like the figure on the Tomb of the Diver found in Paestum, remains suspended between presence and absence.

In this highly original study, Ewa Szypula reappraises the intriguing correspondence between the French novelist and his literary lover, the Polish countess Evelina Hanska. Whereas critics have used this correspondence primarily as source material for biographical and critical studies, this volume approaches the letters as a literary text in their own right. Vacillating between reality and fiction, Balzac essentially created his ideal correspondent through his letter-writing, attributing to Madame Hanska various qualities which she did not necessarily possess.In a series of close readings, Szypula explores the origins of this correspondence, analyzing its echoes and re-workings of Balzac's earlier relationships; shows how the letters help Balzac hone his literary skills and offer the chance to reinvent himself through playing different roles; and proposes the letters to Evelina as a prism through which to contextualise Balzac's subsequent storytelling.Balzac's Love Letters brings together correspondence and fiction to reveal crucial new insights into his literary imagination, whilst documenting an idealized romance which might be seen as his last great novel.