Eavesdropping in the Novel from Austen to Proust

ISBN-13: 9780521815857 / Angielski / Twarda / 2003 / 258 str.

Ann Gaylin

Opis

This study investigates human curiosity and its depiction in eavesdropping scenes in nineteenth-century English and French novels. Ann Gaylin sheds light on the social and psychological effects of the nineteenth-century rise of information technology and accelerated flow of information, as manifested in the anxieties about (and delight in) displays of private life and its secrets. She analyzes eavesdropping in Austen, Balzac, Collins, and Proust. This innovative study is of interest to scholars of nineteenth-century English and European literature.

Recenzje

'… surprises by the abundance of its examples and frequently impresses by the cogency of its analysis …' Modernism/Modernity

Spis treści

Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. I'm all ears: Pride and Prejudice, or the story behind the story; 2. Eavesdropping and the gentle art of Persuasion; 3. Household words: Balzac's and Dickens's domestic spaces; 4. The madwoman outside the attic: eavesdropping and narrative agency in The Woman in White; 5. La double entente: eavesdropping and identity in A la recherche du temps perdu; Conclusion: covert listeners and secret agents; Notes; Select bibliography; Index.