UID:
almafu_9959236137202883
Format:
xv, 176 p. ;
,
24 cm.
Edition:
1st ed.
ISBN:
1-282-85171-3
,
9786612851711
,
0-7735-6256-7
Content:
In the Preface to A Certain Difficulty of Being Purdy examines the kinds of discourse that deal with the novel in some nineteenth-century Quebec novel prefaces, thereby revealing a theme of generic denegation in the sense of "This is not a novel." Purdy goes on to explore the transition from epic to novel in Félix-Antoine Savard's Menaud, maître-draveur; the contradictions stemming from the use of a first-person, present-tense narrative in André Langevin's Poussière sur la ville; the problem of narrativity and history as it is raised in Hubert Aquin's Prochain épisode; and the way in which narrative voice functions in Anne Hébert's Kamouraska. He also touches on the current debate concerning the boundaries between modernism and post-modernism. Purdy does not offer an all-embracing system to explain the development of narrative in the Quebec novel, but leads us to an understanding of how these particular novels function, each in its own socio-historical context, and how they achieve or fail to achieve what they set out to do. The thread that runs through the different chapters is a pragmatic concern with Quebec's historical "difficulty of being" as it informs in varying ways the narrative projects of the novels in question.
Note:
Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
,
Front Matter --
,
Contents --
,
Acknowledgments --
,
Foreword --
,
"This is Not a Novel" The Rhetoric of Denial in Nineteenth-Century Quebec Novel Prefaces --
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Between Epic and Novel: The Crisis of Community in Felix-Antoine Savard's Menaud, maitre-draveur --
,
On the Outside Looking In: The Political Economy of Everyday Life in Gabriette Roy's Bonheur d'occasion --
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Stopping the Kaleidoscope: Narrative Ambiguity in André Langevin's Poussière sur la ville --
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The Politics of Incoherence: Narrative Failure and the Invention of History in Hubert Aquin's Prochain épisode --
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An Archaeology of the Self: Narrative Ventriloquism in Anne Hébert's Kamouraska --
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Afterword --
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Notes --
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Bibliography --
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Index
,
English
Additional Edition:
ISBN 0-7735-0770-1
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1515/9780773562561
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