Intimate, Intrusive and Triumphant
Readers in the 'Liaisons dangereuses'
1st Edition
Published on 1. January 1987
XI, 139 pages
978-90-272-7888-3 (ISBN)
Description
In both the real and the symbolic sense, the action of the Liaisons is writing letters, which is to say, giving the phrase an ontological twist, that writing is its own subject. Letters in an epistolary novel recount and reenact simultaneously, without distinction. Doing and telling are congruent, interchangeable, identical activities. The Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont are the principal characters in this novel because they know best how to use the word. They control and direct others through their writing. From our perspective, however, to listen well is an even more critical and fundamental activity than writing well. The ultimate victor in this novel of seduction and deception is not necessarily the one who writes best but rather he, or she, who reads best. Concentrating on the reader places the entire epistolary exchange in a new light and accentuates the use of the word as an instrument of power and the letter as a tool for domination.
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01/1987
John Benjamins Publishing Co
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Content
- INTIMATE, INTRUSIVE, AND TRIUMPHANT Readers in the Liaisons dangereuses
- Editorial page
- Title page
- Copyright page
- Table of contents
- Preface Pentecost: The Feast of the Reader
- 1. Introduction to the Fictional Reader
- Definition of the Fictional Reader
- Editeur, Rédacteur, and Mme de Rosemonde
- The Postal System: Privileging the Addressee
- Reading : The Power of the Word
- 2. A Theory of Fictional Readers and Their Reading
- Awareness of the Reader
- The Bonds of Confidence
- Receiving and Responding
- The Dangers of Reading
- Writing/Reading: The Ultimate Act
- 3. Hidden Readers
- Valmont: The Reader as Thief
- The Invited Intruder: Mme de Merteuil
- 4. Split Personalities: Characterizing Writers and Readers
- Cécile Volanges
- Mme deVolanges
- The Chevalier Danceny
- Mme deRosemonde
- 5. Writer vs. Reader: The Struggle for Power
- The Written Battle Lines
- The Readerly Armageddon
- The Moral Reader
- Notes
- Selected Bibliography
- The Text
- Secondary Readings
