Synopses & Reviews
This is the first major study of naturalist fiction as a distinct literary genre. The author focuses mainly on French naturalist literature, but also draws examples from other national traditions, particularly from the English novel. Professor Baguley questions many traditional assumptions on important theoretical issues such as the nature of literary history, the concepts of "realism" and "naturalism," and the relations between science and literature. He also analyzes a number of key works in detail. He demonstrates that, far from merely recording the external aspects of reality, naturalist fiction employs the strategies of realist art to convey a profoundly disturbing vision of that reality.
Review
"...brilliant, richly detailed new introduction to naturalist fiction...It is impossible to give here an adequate idea of this book's rich complexity, subtlety, depth, sophistication, formal beauty. Baguley, master bibliographer as well as critic that he is, has read absolutely everything, or so it would seem...A product of the golden summer of contemporary criticism--full-blown, matured, mellowed, it exemplifies all that is best in it." Philip Walker, Nineteenth-Century French Studies"David Baguley has performed a real service to scholars of French literature and Naturalism with this work....takes a bold look at traditional and contemporary criticism, and exposes a vast array of naturalist texts in a manner that will not fail to captivate its reader." Marcia J. Thompson Diamond, French Review
Synopsis
This is the first major study of naturalist fiction as a distinct literary genre. The author focuses mainly on French naturalist literature, but also draws examples from other national traditions, particularly from the English novel. Professor Baguley questions many traditional assumptions on important theoretical issues such as the nature of literary history, the concepts of "realism" and "naturalism," and the relations between science and literature. He also analyzes a number of key works in detail. He demonstrates that, far from merely recording the external aspects of reality, naturalist fiction employs the strategies of realist art to convey a profoundly disturbing vision of that reality.
Synopsis
In Naturalist Fiction, the first major study of naturalist fiction as a distinct literary genre, Professor Baguley focuses mainly on French naturalist literature, analysing a number of key works in detail, as well as drawing on examples from other national traditions, particularly from the English novel.