Title: 'Surfacing' the politics of desire : literature, feminism, and myth /
Authors: Vallury, Rajeshwari S.
Publisher: University of Toronto Press,
Year: 2008
Subjects: French fiction History and criticism.; French literature Male authors History and criticism.; Women in literature; Desire in literature.; Feminist literary criticism.; Politics and literature.; Roman français Histoire et critique.; Littérature française Écrivains masculins Histoire et critique.; Femmes dans la littérature.; Désir dans la littérature.; Critique féministe.; Politique et littérature.
Abstract: "A particular model of masculine desire has traditionally been evoked in an effort to understand the subordinate role of women in male-authored fiction. Because of this, the belief that male-authored texts are unfailingly built upon the denial of feminine difference has come to dominate many aspects of literary studies. 'Surfacing' the Politics of Desire re-examines the 'myths' of masculine desire in order to challenge this premise, placing literature at the centre of recent feminist debates over the ontology and politics of sexual difference." "'Surfacing' the Politics of Desire calls into question dominant feminist approaches to the literary representation of gender. Enlisting the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari, Vallury calls for a different method of reading, one based on a deeper understanding of the politics of literature."--Jacket.
Contents: Pierre et Jean, or the erring of Oedipus -- The error of Narcissus -- The three virtues of imperceptibility, indiscernibility, and impersonality -- Becoming-flower, becoming-imperceptible : Oedipus, Narcissus and their lines of flight in Sarrasine and Le chef-d'oeuvre inconnu -- Beyond the dialectic of self and other : towards a thought of the surface -- 'Une jouissance d'épiderme' : from Platonic height and depth to the deleuzian surface in Gautier's Mademoiselle de Maupin.