Inheritance in Nineteenth-century French Culture: Wealth, Knowledge and the Family (Legenda) - Hardcover

Counter, Andrew J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1906540756 ISBN 13: 9781906540753

Publisher: Routledge, 2010

Synopsis

The transmission of wealth between generations was not only a narrative commonplace in nineteenth-century France, but also a topic of considerable cultural anxiety and intense political debate. In this study, Andrew J. Counter draws on a wealth of previously unexplored material to show how the theme of inheritance in literature and beyond acquired ethical, historical and ideological connotations, and was vital to nineteenth-century French conceptions of the family and of the legacy of the Revolution.

Weaving together fiction, drama, legal texts, historiographical thought and political writing, Inheritance in Nineteenth-Century French Culture teases out a complex leitmotiv that gives us a new understanding of nineteenth- century France's sense of its own place in history. It also proposes innovative readings of writers as familiar as Honoré de Balzac, George Sand, Guy de Maupassant and Émile Zola, while drawing attention to a range of neglected authors and works.

About this title

About the Author:

Andrew J. Counter is Fellow and College Lecturer in French at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.

Review:

Their is enough background information in this well-conceived and clearly-written study to make the analyses accessible to those unfamiliar with the works discussed, and enough original interpretation and careful referencing to make it an enjoyable and engaging read for both cultural historians and literary scholars.' (Laurey Martin-Berg, University of Wisconsin, Madison French Review)

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1906540756
• ISBN 13: 9781906540753
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 216