The Flight of the Angels
Intertextuality in Four Novels by Boris Vian
Alistair Charles Rolls(Author)
Rodopi (Publisher)
Published on 1. January 1999
Book
Paperback/Softback
370 pages
978-90-420-0467-2 (ISBN)
Description
It is a close study of four novels by Boris Vian. It aims to show how L'Ecume des jours, L'Automne a Pekin, L'Herbe rouge and L'Arrache-coeur form a unified and coherent tetralogy. By establishing close links between these four texts, it becomes possible to achieve a more comprehensive understanding, not only of the significance of the tetralogy in exposing a complex and multi-layered novelistic strategy at the heart of the vianesque, but of the individual novels as autonomous creations. An examination of the novels reveals that they are not merely joined to one another via a superficial network of textual similarities (that which I refer to as intratextuality), but that this intertwining is emblematic of a common method of narrative construction. Each Vian novel is dependent, for a thorough understanding of the text to be possible, upon the multiple lines of external influence running through it. The sources of this influence (which I refer to as intertextuality) are located in various major texts of twentieth century literature, anglophone as well as francophone. Thus, in each instance the narrative is driven by a complicated interaction of intratextuality and intertextuality.
More details
Series
167
Language
English
Place of publication
Leiden
Netherlands
Publishing group
Brill
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 22 mm
Width: 15 mm
ISBN-13
978-90-420-0467-2 (9789042004672)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Content
Foreword. Acknowledgements. Abbreviations. Introduction. Chapter One: L'Ecume des jours: From 'Clins d'oeil' to Intertextuality. Chapter Two: L'Ecume des jours: Mac Orlan, Queneau et un autre. Chapter Three: L'Automne a Pekin: Entry into the Text. Chapter Four: L'Automne a Pekin: And what they found there. Chapter Five: L'Herbe rouge: The Problem with Science Fiction. Chapter Six: L'Herbe rouge: Dreams or Memories. Chapter Seven: L'Arrache-Coeur: Revenge. Chapter Eight: L'Arrache-Coeur: Sacrifice and Return. Conclusion. Bibliography. Index.