Research Catalog

Title

The fevered novel from Balzac to Bernanos : frenetic Catholicism in crisis, delirium and revolution / Francesco Manzini.

Author

Manzini, Francesco, 1970-

Publication

London : School of Advanced Study, University of London, 2011.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

264 p.; 23 cm.

Summary

This book examines a corpus of frenetic novels {u2013} by Balzac, Barbey d{u2019}Aurevilly, Zola, Huysmans, Bloy and Bernanos {u2013} that foreground the motif of fever within a recurring masterplot: a pious young woman, just discovering her sexuality, finds herself torn between two father-figures, a doctor (typically a bloodrelative, often the biological father) and a priest (the spiritual father). She contracts a disease of uncertain origin, made manifest by a series of fevers that require interpretation in the light of contemporary religious, medical and literary discourses. Manzini traces the motifs of fever and frenzy back to Rousseau, the Gothic novel and Frenetic Romanticism, as well as forward to their recuperation within Surrealism, in order to produce an original history of Frenetic Catholicism in the age of realism.

Series Statement

IGRS books ; vol. 2

Uniform Title

IGRS books v. 2.

Subject

• 1800-1899
• French literature > 19th century > History and criticism
• Fever in literature
• Hysteria in literature
• Catholics in literature
• Diseases and literature > France > 19th century

Genre/Form

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [245]-253) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Chronology -- 1 Introduction: frenetic romanticism -- 2 Balzac's Le Livre mystique and Ursule Mirouët -- 3 Barbey d'Aurevilly's Un prêtre marié -- 4 Zola's La Faute de l'abbé Mouret -- 5 Huysmans's En rade and Sainte Lydwine de Schiedam -- 6 Bloy's Le Désespéré and La Femme pauvre -- 7 Bernanos's Sous le soleil de Satan and Nouvelle Histoire de Mouchette -- 8 Conclusion: frenetic surrealism -- Bibliography -- Index.

ISBN

• 9780854572267
• 0854572260

OCLC

• 767532373
• SCSB-10933003

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library