Literature and Material Culture from Balzac to Proust: The Collection and Consumption of Curiosities (Cambridge Studies in French, Series Number 62)

Watson, Janell

ISBN 10: 0521661560 / ISBN 13: 9780521661560

Published by Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK New York, 2000

About this Item

x + 228 pp, acknowledgments, Introduction, 7 chapters, notes, bibliography, index. 6.1" x 9.2" black cloth boardds, gilt spine letters, in illustrated, unclipped DJ with acetate protector. Binding tight, pages clean, umarked, exterior unmarked. Size: Slim Octavo.

Seller Inventory # 009628

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Literature and Material Culture from Balzac to Proust: The Collection and Consumption of Curiosities (Cambridge Studies in French, Series Number 62)
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK New York
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521661560
• ISBN 13: 9780521661560
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition.
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Book Type: Book
• Seller catalogs:
  • LITERARY CRITICISM

About this title

Synopsis

Janell Watson shows how the sudden prominence given to curiosities and collecting in nineteenth-century literature signals a massive change in attitudes to the world of goods, which in turn restructured the literary text according to the practical logic of daily life, calling into question established scholarly notions of order. She traces the phenomenon from Balzac, who introduced it to canonical literature, through Flaubert, Zola, Rachilde and Lorrain, to Proust. Her study makes an important contribution to the literary history of material culture.

Review

"a complex and fascinating story...a memorable book that is indispensable for readers interested in the study of consumer culture and in the connection between realism and cultural production in the nineteenth century." L'Esprit Createur