The libertine's nemesis
Subtitle: the prude in Clarissa and the Roman libertin
By: James Fowler
Publisher: Legenda; Routledge
Published: 2011
Place of publication: London
Language: eng; fre
Number of pages: 172
ISBN-13: 9781907625015
Subjects: Criticism and interpretation; European fiction; Prudence in literature; Libertinism in literature; History and criticism
Other titles: Prude in Clarissa and the Roman libertin
Description: "What is the role of the prude in the 'roman libertin'? James Fowler argues that in the most famous novels of the genre (by Richardson, Crébillon fils, Laclos and Sade) the prude is not the libertine's victim but an equal and opposite force working against him, and that ultimately she brings retribution for his social, erotic and philosophical presumption. In a word, she is his Nemisis. He is vulnerable to her power because of the ambivalence he feels towards her; she is his ideological enemy, but also his ideal object. Moreover, the libertine succumbs to an involuntary nostalgia for the values of the seventeenth century, which the prude continues to embody through the age of Enlightenment. In Crébillon fils and Richardson, the encounter between libertine and prude is played out as a skirmish or duel between two individuals. In Laclos and Sade, the presence of female libertines (the Marquise de Merteuil and Juliette) allows that encounter to be reenacted within a murderous triangle"--Publisher's description, p. [4] of cover.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [163]-170) and index.

Text in English and French.
Table of contents: title: Les Égarements du cœur et de l'esprit; title: Clarissa, or, The history of a young lady; title: Les liaisons dangereuses; title: La nouvelle Justine, ou les malheurs de la vertu, suivie de l'Histoire de Juliette, sa sœur; title: Conclusion.