The Unintended Reader: Feminism and Manon Lescaut (Cambridge Studies in French, Series Number 13) - Hardcover

Segal, Naomi

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521307236 ISBN 13: 9780521307239

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1986

Synopsis

This 1986 study of Manon Lescaut draws on various debates in the fields of psychoanalysis, feminism and literary criticism. It has two principal aims: to analyse this story of a young man's passion for a femme fatale as it is presented by the narrator; and to suggest ways in which feminist criticism can help explain how the text operates. The volume is in three parts. In Part I, Dr Segal offers a close reading of Manon Lescaut in which the narrator's relationship with language is the key issue. Part II considers four central themes which are present in the text's language and structure: money, the image of the woman, the concept of the double, and fatality. In the final part the author presents a feminist critique of Freud and Lacan, and develops thereby a fascinating version of the Oedipus Complex which is brought to bear on Manon Lescaut.

About this title

Book Description:

This 1986 study of Manon Lescaut draws on various debates in psychoanalysis, feminism and literary criticism. It aims to analyse the narrator's presentation of this story of a young man's passion for a femme fatale and to suggest ways in which feminist criticism can help explain how the text operates.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1986
• ISBN 10: 0521307236
• ISBN 13: 9780521307239
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 349