French Literary Theory Today
A Reader

A 1982 anthology of studies by French literary theorists representing the most significant contributions to the field made in France in the preceding fifteen years.

Tzvetan Todorov (Edited by), R. Carter (Translated by)

9780521297776, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 21 October 1982

248 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.4 cm, 0.37 kg

Originally published in 1982, this is an anthology of studies by French literary theorists representing the most significant contributions to the field made in France in the preceding fifteen years. The essays were published here in English for the first time and cover, among other topics, the methodology of literary studies, the specifics of literary creation, the different facets and levels of the text, and the issues raised by the classification of literature into genres and periods. Biographical notes on the authors and an introduction are provided by the editor. The contributors all reflect in varying degrees the influence of structural linguistics, and this collection will be of value for all those, on whichever side of the debate, concerned with the impact and importance of this method of approach for the study of literature.

Sources and acknowledgements
Introduction: French poetics today Tzvetan Todorov
Part I: 1. Criticism and poetics Gérard Genette
Part II: 2. The reality effect Roland Barthes
3. Models of the literary sentence Michael Riffaterre
4. The strategy of form Laurent Jenny
Part III: 5. A theory of the figure Jean Cohen
6. Parallelism and deviation in poetry Nicolas Ruwet
7. A critique of the motif Claude Bremond
8. What is a description? Phillipe Hamon
Part IV: 9. On the circularity of song Paul Zumthor
10. The autobiographical contract Phillippe Lejeune
11. A complication of text: the Illuminations Tzvetan Todorov
Notes on the contributors.

Subject Areas: Literature: history & criticism [DS]