Author: Tilby Michael
Publisher: Maney Publishing
ISSN: 1478-7318
Source: Dix-Neuf, Vol.17, Iss.2, 2013-10, pp. : 124-140
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Abstract
The divergent critical assessments of Louis Lambert by a range of creative writers may be seen partly as indicative of the uncertain status of Balzac’s composition in relation to genre. Yet scholars have tended to sidestep the challenge posed by its seemingly indeterminate form in favour of readings in terms of autobiography and philosophical enquiry. The present article argues that the work does not operate as a straightforward vehicle for such extra-textual imperatives, but derives its previously unacknowledged coherence from a concern with its own fictionality and textuality. Read in this way, Louis Lambert can be seen to be structured in terms of recurring preoccupations that take the form of unresolved thematic oppositions, which additionally serve to locate the undeniable autobiographical dimension of the work within the writing itself, rather than at the level of authorial double or explicit philosophical commentary.
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