Diplomacy and the Modern Novel: France, Britain, and the Mission of Literature

Published by University of Toronto Press 2020

Diplomacy and the Modern Novel

France, Britain, and the Mission of Literature

Edited by: Isabelle Daunais and Allan Hepburn

https://doi.org/10.3138/9781487537531

Overview
Contents

About this book

Why have so many diplomats been writers? Why have so many writers served as diplomats? This book provides some fascinating insights into the connections between literature and diplomacy.

Author / Editor information

Daunais Isabelle :

Isabelle Daunais is a Canada Research Chair and professor in the Department of French Literature at McGill University.
Hepburn Allan :

Allan Hepburn is the James McGill Professor of Twentieth-Century Literature at McGill University.

Reviews

Charles Hill, Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, Yale :

"Diplomacy and the Modern Novel throws open a Chancery window on life today in which everyone uses personal diplomacy every day, and wants government to use more of it, while neither sector, private or public, knows what ‘it’ is. This book gives us a wider angle of vision."

Timothy Hampton, Department of French, University of California, Berkeley, Author of Fictions of Embassy; Literature and Diplomacy in Early Modern Europe:

"Diplomacy and the Modern Novel covers an important lacuna in the history of literary culture. It shows how the transition from the conventionally ‘national’ literary traditions of the nineteenth century to our modern idea of ‘global’ literature was shaped by authors who used the practices of diplomacy to engage with foreign experience. The volume explores the relationship between innovations of literary narrative and the experience of trying to ‘write’ the foreign. This book should be read by scholars of the novel, as well as students of the changing shape of the world literary scene. The essays offer a set of discrete ‘case studies’ that reimagine the work of major figures, even as the entire volume makes an important statement about the play of power and influence in both literature and politics."

Gayle Rogers, Department of English, University of Pittsburgh:

"A sharp and timely collection full of cutting-edge essays."

Ira Nadel, Department of English, University of British Columbia:

"With a dual focus on English and French literature, Diplomacy and the Modern Novel takes a fresh approach to the topic."

Ann Martin, Department of English, University of Saskatchewan:

"Diplomacy and the Modern Novel is a strong contribution to twentieth century scholarly studies and Modernism. It addresses compelling connections between diplomacy and the novel in terms of style and representation across a range of texts."

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
The Mission of Literature: Modern Novels and Diplomacy Allan Hepburn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part One: Diplomatic Experience
1. Making a Song and Dance of It: Staging Diplomacy in William Gerhardi’s Early Novels Claire Davison Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	27
2. The League of Nations As Seen by Albert Cohen: A User’s Guide to Social Magic Maxime Decout Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	50
3. Modern Negotiations: Harold Nicolson’s Peacemaking 1919 and Public Faces Caroline Z. Krzakowski Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
Part Two: Novels and Diplomacy
4. “Diplomatic Dispatch Style”: Towards a New Aesthetic of the Novel Isabelle Daunais Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	85
5. Conrad’s Politics of Idealism: Diplomacy without Diplomats Stephen Ross Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	100
6. André Gide and the Art of Evasion Michel Biron Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	116
Part Three: Documents
7. Proust’s Epistolary Diplomacy: Antoine Bibesco, René Peter, and “Salaïsme” François Proulx Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	137
8. The Art of Conversation: Nancy Mitford, France, and Cultural Diplomacy Allan Hepburn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	158
Part Four: Foreign Affairs
9. Action, Diplomacy, Art: André Malraux and Graham Greene Robert L. Caserio Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	177
10. Mythography and Diplomacy in Works by Ian Fleming and John le Carré Maxime Prévost Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	195
11. Lawrence Durrell: Diplomacy as Farce Maria Dibattista Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	212
Works Cited Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	225
Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	237
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241

Language: English
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Audience: College/higher education;Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 252
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 2
- Other: 2 b&w illustrations
Keywords: Modernism; diplomacy; diplomats; novel; comedy; French-British relations; politics; international relations; Graham Greene; John le Carré; Nancy Mitford; Marcel Proust; spies in literature; Ian Fleming

eBook

Published: September 25, 2020
ISBN: 9781487537531