Introduction 1. Contagions of Conformity in Camus' L'Etranger 2. The Art of Betrayal in Sabato's El tunel 3. Poeticizing Vice: Genet's Querelle de Brest 4. In the Shadows of Significance: The Dissolution of Character in Wright's The Outsider 5. The Exemplum of Empathy in Andre Langevin's Poussiere sur la ville 6. Miscast Utopia: Reversing the Slant of History in Pineau's L'Exil selon Julia 7. Habitat for Inhumanity: The Legacy of Conquest in Naipaul's Guerillas 8. The Enemy Within: The Politics of Self-Destruction in Zongo's Le Parachutage 9. The Scattered Self: The Dislocation of identity in Wiesel's Le Cinquieme Fils Afterword Appendix Bibliography
An exploration of the broad paradigm of alienation in post-war literature through close readings of nine novels.
An exploration of the broad paradigm of alienation in post-war literature through close readings of nine novels.
Mary Jo Muratore holds the Catherine Paine Middlebush Chair of the Humanities at the University of Missouri, USA. She is the author of four books, including Mimesis and Metatextuality in the Neo-Classical Text (1994), which was nominated for the Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize in French Studies, sponsored by the Modern Language Association of America.
"The place of the margins in literary discourse stands prominently
as a fulcrum of inquiry among twentieth-century writers and
contemporary literary scholars. Twentieth-century prose seeks
explicitly to forge and sustain a fundamental distance from the
'center,' which appears both as anathema to contemporary writers
and which does not fairly bespeak the predominant vision of
l'humaine condition. Within such a frame, Dr. Muratore's masterful
study of otherness brings stunning insights and new dimensions to
the complex, forever unresolved problematic of alienation,
marginalization and apartness. The critic illuminates the work of
nine post-World War II novelists-each, by dint of circumstance or
destiny, culturally apart, each singularly estranged, and, more
compellingly, each the creator of a fictionalized universe in which
the protagonist confronts the essence of unhinged lost-ness.
Muratore thus offers sophisticated and far-reaching analyses and
accompanies the reader on an intriguing series of journeys, each
borne of 'difference,' yet powerfully unified. The literary dances
are highly compelling as the book explores that muted but
ever-present part of our human prejudice-otherness-from the
perspectives of those on the fringes. Muratore explores the
phenomenon with forensic expertise and vigor of thought. Clearly,
every reader can relate to the face in the mirror staring back
through the haze of self-recognition and the ignominy of attempting
to conjure up a panacea for an intractable matter." -- Bethel
Erastus-Obilo, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Research,
University of Atlanta, USA
"Muratore's work, written with polish and flair, offers an
alternate theory of reading, and does so with clarity and depth,
void of the convolutions to which we are too often exposed. The
critic wields a study of estrangement in numerous texts, while
establishing a bond of immediacy with the reader. A stunning
discourse of and about textual difference!" -- Jack Jordan,
Professor and Department Head, Department of Classical & Modern
Languages and Literatures, Mississippi State University, USA
Exiles, Outcasts, Strangers is a unique work of ambitious scope
that opens onto an immensely rich area of exploration. In
demonstrating the relationship between exile, alienation, and
literary self-representation, it brings together an original
constellation of related issues that offers a fresh approach to the
familiar genre of exile literature. -- Wilson Kaiser, Jacksonville
University * Comparative Literature Studies, Vol. 52, No. 1, 2015
*
Readers interested in one of these writers will find something
interesting in her analysis. The book has extensive notes a good
bibliography. Collections with strong holdings in comparative
literature and post colonialism will find this slender book a
useful...acquisition. * Choice *
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