The Mirror in the Text

`The Mirror in the Text' is concerned with the literary and artistic device of `mise en abyme', the internal repetition of an image or motif which mirrors the structure or character of the work as a whole - like the `infinite' sets of Russian dolls. In this classic study, Lucien Dallenbach provides the first systematic analysis of this device and its literary and artistic applications from Van Eyck and Velazquez to Proust, Kafka and the French `nouveau roman'. Alongside this wealth of examples, Dallenbach constructs his theoretical argument with elegance and clarity, assuming no previous knowledge of arcane and specialized theory, but guiding the reader helpfully through the maze of literary criticism. The result is a new conceptual field, a new grammar for the form `mise en abyme', which examines its function within the work of art and literature. This highly original study has been acclaimed as one of the most important works of contempory literary theory. It will be of interest to all students of English literature and modern languages, as well as to students of the visual arts.