Spaces Of Belonging: Home, Culture And Identity In 20th Century French Autobiography. (spatial Practices)
by Elizabeth H. Jones /
2007 / English / PDF
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Questions of space, place and identity have become increasingly
prominent throughout the arts and humanities in recent times. This
study begins by investigating the reasons for this growth in
interest and analyses the underlying assumptions on which
interdisciplinary discussions about space are often based. After
tracing back the history of contact between Geography and Literary
Studies from both disciplinary perspectives, it goes on to discuss
recent academic work in the field and seeks to forge a new
conceptual framework through which contemporary discussions of
space and literature can operate. The book then moves on to a
thorough application of the interdisciplinary model that it has
established. Having argued that the experience of contemporary
space has rendered questions of home and belonging particularly
pressing, it undertakes detailed analysis of how these phenomena
are articulated in a selection of recent French life writing texts.
The close, text-led readings reveal that whilst not often
highlighted for their relevance to the analysis of space, these
works do in fact narrate the impact of some of the most significant
cultural experiences of the twentieth century, including the
Holocaust and the AIDS crisis, upon geo-cultural senses of
identity. Home is shown to be a deeply problematic, yet strongly
desired, element of the contemporary world. The book concludes by
addressing the underlying thesis that contemporary life writing
might provide just the 'postmodern maps' that could help not only
literary scholars, but also geographers, better understand the
world today. Key names and concepts: Serge Doubrovsky - Hervé
Guibert - Fredric Jameson - Philippe Lejeune - Régine Robin;
Autofiction - Cultural Geography - Interdisciplinarity - Place and
Identity - Postmodernism - Space - Postmodern Space - Literary
Studies - Twentieth-Century Life Writing.
Questions of space, place and identity have become increasingly
prominent throughout the arts and humanities in recent times. This
study begins by investigating the reasons for this growth in
interest and analyses the underlying assumptions on which
interdisciplinary discussions about space are often based. After
tracing back the history of contact between Geography and Literary
Studies from both disciplinary perspectives, it goes on to discuss
recent academic work in the field and seeks to forge a new
conceptual framework through which contemporary discussions of
space and literature can operate. The book then moves on to a
thorough application of the interdisciplinary model that it has
established. Having argued that the experience of contemporary
space has rendered questions of home and belonging particularly
pressing, it undertakes detailed analysis of how these phenomena
are articulated in a selection of recent French life writing texts.
The close, text-led readings reveal that whilst not often
highlighted for their relevance to the analysis of space, these
works do in fact narrate the impact of some of the most significant
cultural experiences of the twentieth century, including the
Holocaust and the AIDS crisis, upon geo-cultural senses of
identity. Home is shown to be a deeply problematic, yet strongly
desired, element of the contemporary world. The book concludes by
addressing the underlying thesis that contemporary life writing
might provide just the 'postmodern maps' that could help not only
literary scholars, but also geographers, better understand the
world today. Key names and concepts: Serge Doubrovsky - Hervé
Guibert - Fredric Jameson - Philippe Lejeune - Régine Robin;
Autofiction - Cultural Geography - Interdisciplinarity - Place and
Identity - Postmodernism - Space - Postmodern Space - Literary
Studies - Twentieth-Century Life Writing.