Ornament, Fantasy, and Desire in Nineteenth-Century French Literature

Rae Beth Gordon

Published by Princeton University Press 1992

Ornament, Fantasy, and Desire in Nineteenth-Century French Literature

Rae Beth Gordon

Volume 192 in the series Princeton Legacy Library

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400862665

Overview
Contents

About this book

In this examination of the role of ornament in nineteenth-century French literature, Rae Beth Gordon shows that ornament, far from being a simple accessory, raises problems that are at the very heart of aesthetic experience: limits and their transgression, illusion and seduction, pleasure and tension, harmony and confusion, excess and marginality. After placing texts by Nerval, Gautier, Mallarm, Huysmans, and Rachilde within the context of the history and techniques of the decorative arts, she reveals in these works the powerful role played by decorative figurations of syntax, diction, and composition. Gordon's detailed textual analyses yield spatial parallels with specific ornamental configurations (interlace, arabesque, decorative frame, horror vacui, trompe l'oeil). These patterns are then studied in relation to a dynamics of desire. Ornament, taken as the site of desire and illuminated by the theories of Charcot, Clrambault, Freud, Winnicott, and Lacan, highlights important differences between romanticism, symbolism, and decadence. Not only does the author relate ornament to artistic representations of the sublime, the grotesque, and hysteria, but she also reveals that the function of ornament in literature anticipated psychiatric and aesthetic research on decorative form in the fin de sicle.

Originally published in 1992.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

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Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
List of Illustrations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xv
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xvii
AN INTRODUCTION TO ORNAMENT Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
PART I: ROMANTICISM
CHAPTER ONE: The Enchanted Hand: Schlegel's Arabesque in Nerval Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
CHAPTER TWO: Lace as Textual Metaphor in Nerval's Sylvie Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	55
CHAPTER THREE: Trills, Frills, and Decorative Frames for the Object of Desire Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	78
CHAPTER FOUR: The Evil Eye: Ornamental Vision as the Sublime Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	107
PART II: SYMBOLISM AND DECADENCE
CHAPTER FIVE: Trompe l'Oeil in the Poems of Mallarme Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	147
CHAPTER SIX: Aboli Bibelot? Excess, Void, and Objectless Desire Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	176
CHAPTER SEVEN: Ornament and Hysteria: Huysmans and Rachilde Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
CONCLUSION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	240
Appendix Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	281

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