| The Poetics of Death: The Short Prose of Kleist and Balzac Contributor(s): Guenther, Beatrice Martina (Author) |
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ISBN: 0791430243 ISBN-13: 9780791430248 Publisher: State University of New York Press OUR PRICE: $33.20 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: July 1996 Annotation: Traditionally, the act of writing constitutes a challenge to the finality of death. Yet 'writing' as a subject for literary texts has its own tradition of imagery whose rhetoric is associated with loss rather than immortality. The limit of death seems to force a more explicit analysis of the process of writing. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | European - German - Literary Criticism | European - French |
| Dewey: 809.393 |
| LCCN: 95-52864 |
| Series: Suny Series, the Margins of Literature |
| Physical Information: 0.46" H x 5.83" W x 8.88" (0.71 lbs) 216 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 1800-1850 - Cultural Region - Central Europe - Cultural Region - French - Cultural Region - Germany - Cultural Region - Western Europe |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Traditionally, the act of writing constitutes a challenge to the finality of death. Yet writing as a subject for literary texts has its own tradition of imagery whose rhetoric is associated with loss rather than immortality. The limit of death seems to force a more explicit analysis of the process of writing. Writers consider the impact of their work on their readers, or re-articulate the link between the written text and the subject it is meant to represent. Each writer constructs a subversive text. The conjunction of writing and death--besides highlighting or demystifying the creative act--leads in each case to a decidedly critical stance. Guenther examines how Kleist's and Balzac's representations of death bring with them a critical awareness that calls attention to the historical context in which the texts are produced. |
