Marivaux’s Novels: Theme and Function in Early Eighteenth-Century Narrative (1974)

Description

This is the first book-length study and critique of Marivaux's novels in English. Primarily thought of as a dramatist, the prolific author was nevertheless an influence on such French writers of prose narrative as Diderot, Rousseau, Laclos, and Sade, and in England he was read and appreciated by novelists Richardson, Fielding, and Sterne. And with Prévost, author of Manon Lescaut, he is the most important writer of prose fiction in the early French Enlightenment. This book thus fils a lacuna in novelistic criticism of eighteenth-century France. For the most part, this study attempts to show how Marivaux adapted traditional themes and techniques to the exigencies of "Modern" taste and demands. The result was a first major step in the formulation of the novel as we accept it today. The emphasis here is on the major themes and their technical corollaries, for this successtul dramatist was experimenting with the possibilities of the novel at a crucial point in its development as a genre. ISBN:9780838614198