«This volume constitutes a landmark in the study of one of France’s foremost contemporary writers. The diversity and originality of its critical approaches and the scholarship and creativity in evidence on every page make it essential reading for anybody interested in Marie Nimier, or in 'self and subject' in contemporary writing.» (Professor Shirley Jordan, Newcastle University)
«This diverse collection casts much-needed light on Marie Nimier’s corpus and does full justice to the complexity and richness of Nimier’s writing. It excavates with skill and sensitivity the multiple palimpsestic layers of the narrative self – whether historical, familial, sensorial or linguistic – and illuminates the relational resonances Nimier’s texts provoke, both readerly and literary.» (Professor Siobhán McIlvanney, King’s College London)
In the postwar literary culture of France, under the influence of Structuralism and its aftermath, deference to «the text in itself» meant that literary studies eschewed discussing narrators or characters as subjects and deriving social or political commentary from specific texts. In reaction to this trend, which also influenced the writing of novels, a new generation of authors have sought instead to focus on developing innovative ways of conceptualizing subjecthood, identity and agency.
Marie Nimier’s writing abundantly exemplifies this «return of the subject» in the rich diversity of the fifteen novels she has published since Sirène in 1985, blending fiction and life-writing. Her narrators/protagonists typically strive to achieve forms of agency which are made possible, yet also threatened, by the ostensible «givens»: heritage, memory, gender, relationships, desire, social environment and, not least, language itself. This volume explores central aspects of self and subject in her oeuvre to date and includes two short stories which Nimier formally publishes here for the first time, one with an English translation.
«This volume constitutes a landmark in the study of one of France’s foremost contemporary writers. The diversity and originality of its critical approaches and the scholarship and creativity in evidence on every page make it essential reading for anybody interested in Marie Nimier, or in 'self and subject' in contemporary writing.» (Professor Shirley Jordan, Newcastle University)
«This diverse collection casts much-needed light on Marie Nimier’s corpus and does full justice to the complexity and richness of Nimier’s writing. It excavates with skill and sensitivity the multiple palimpsestic layers of the narrative self – whether historical, familial, sensorial or linguistic – and illuminates the relational resonances Nimier’s texts provoke, both readerly and literary.» (Professor Siobhán McIlvanney, King’s College London)
In the postwar literary culture of France, under the influence of Structuralism and its aftermath, deference to «the text in itself» meant that literary studies eschewed discussing narrators or characters as subjects and deriving social or political commentary from specific texts. In reaction to this trend, which also influenced the writing of novels, a new generation of authors have sought instead to focus on developing innovative ways of conceptualizing subjecthood, identity and agency.
Marie Nimier’s writing abundantly exemplifies this «return of the subject» in the rich diversity of the fifteen novels she has published since Sirène in 1985, blending fiction and life-writing. Her narrators/protagonists typically strive to achieve forms of agency which are made possible, yet also threatened, by the ostensible «givens»: heritage, memory, gender, relationships, desire, social environment and, not least, language itself. This volume explores central aspects of self and subject in her oeuvre to date and includes two short stories which Nimier formally publishes here for the first time, one with an English translation.
Marie Nimier: Le Sujet et ses écritures / The Self in the Web of Language
300
Marie Nimier: Le Sujet et ses écritures / The Self in the Web of Language
300Paperback
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781800791954 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Peter Lang Ltd, International Academic Publishers |
| Publication date: | 06/29/2021 |
| Series: | Modern French Identities , #142 |
| Pages: | 300 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.00(d) |