Complicity in Fin-de-siecle Literature

Complicity in Fin-de-siècle Literature explores the moral implications of literature in late-nineteenth century France, examining how readers, writers, and critics were implicated in risqué or illicit ideas and behaviour. It offers a new terminology and conceptual framework for analysing literary influence and reception, drawing on methods from close reading, literary history, law and literature studies, cultural studies, and sociology of literature. Case studies from various media forms, including naturalist, decadent, psychological novels, biographically revealing fiction, little magazines, and saucy magazines, highlight how particular literary themes or techniques encouraged readers' identification with transgression and facilitated alternative forms of solidarity. The book's varied corpus reveals the widespread appeal of risqué topics and illicit solidarity across the literary spectrum.

Format: Hardback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 20 June 2024
Publisher: Oxford University Press

Complicity in Fin-de-siècle Literature explores the late-nineteenth century French perspective on literature as a morally complicit medium, implicating readers, writers, and critics in risqué or illicit ideas and behavior. It examines definitions of complicity from the period's evolving legal statutes, critical debates about the negative influence of literature, and modern theories of reader response to gain a deeper understanding of how cultural production during this period fostered relationships of implication and collusion. While primarily focusing on fin-de-siècle French culture, the book's theoretical discussions offer a new terminology and conceptual framework for analyzing literary influence and reception, applicable to various historical periods and national contexts. The interdisciplinary nature of the study draws on methods from close reading, literary history, law and literature studies, cultural studies, and sociology of literature. Each chapter of the book highlights how specific literary themes or techniques encouraged readers' identification with transgression and facilitated alternative forms of solidarity. The analysis draws on a diverse range of case studies from various media forms, including naturalist, decadent, and psychological novels, biographically revealing fiction (romans à clef), little magazines (petites revues), and saucy magazines (revues légères). The book's corpus includes texts written by well-known literary figures such as Émile Zola, Octave Mirbeau, and Rachilde, as well as previously overlooked periodical and archival sources. The widespread appeal of risqué topics and illicit solidarity across the literary spectrum is evident in the book's varied corpus.

Weight: 530g
Dimension: 240 x 164 x 21 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780198910190