Reconstructing woman : from fiction to reality in the nineteenth-century novel

Kelly, Dorothy 1952- (Author).

Summary: 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.

Record details

ISBN: 0271032677
ISBN: 9780271032672
ISBN: 0271032669
ISBN: 9780271032665
ISBN: 9780271022246
ISBN: 0271022248
ISBN: 9780271049441
ISBN: 0271049448
ISBN: 0271054808
ISBN: 9780271054803
ISBN: 0271034963
ISBN: 9780271034966
Physical Description: 1 online resource (178 pages)
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Publisher: University Park, Pa. : Pennsylvania State University Press, ©2007.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 165-170) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	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.
Language Note:	English.
Source of Description Note:	Print version record.