The Model and the Masterpiece (Balzac and his followers)
Journal Title: Studia Litterarum - Year 2018, Vol 3, Issue 1
Abstract
Balzac’s short story “The Unknown Masterpiece” (“Le Chef-d’œuvre inconnu”) is one of his most commented works. This essay offers a new reading of the story by correlating the narrative structures of the text with the deforming effect these structures produce on the visual artifact (the painting) featured in “The Unknown Masterpiece.” The analysis takes into consideration the dynamic history of Balzac’s “waving” text undergoing changes with every new authorial revision that obscured the important circumstances of the plot and made the central visual image ambiguous. The latter is stratified as it acquires width instead of depth while the figure it represents protrudes from the smooth surface of the canvas. The close reading of Balzac’s text is followed by the survey of French literary works and films that elaborate, after Balzac, on “the masterpiece and the model” plot. The latter include the works by Théophile Gautier, Goncourt brothers, Émile Zola, and Jacques Rivette.
Authors and Affiliations
Sergey N. Zenkin
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP26204
- DOI 10.22455/2500-4247-2018-3-1-10-57
- Views 326
- Downloads 14
Poetics of Octavio Paz’s The Violent Season
The poetics of Octavio Paz’s book The Violent Season (1958) is in great part defined by its autobiographical canvas: the sequence of the 9 poems that compose the lyrical series corresponds chronologically and geographi...
Shakespeare and the Fight for Promfinplan, or How High Voltage is Made
In his play Announcement of Death (the initial title of the play High Voltage), Platonov used documentary facts he observed in 1929–1930s while staying at the Leningrad metal factory. The play was intended to fulfil the...
Reexamining Two Mythological Ballads from Christine de Pizan’s Cent Balades
The article analyzes two mythological ballads from Christine de Pizan’s early collection Cent Balades (1399–1411). I propose to interpret them against allegorical commentary on Ovid’s Metamorphoses, a poem Ovide morali...
FLOWER IMAGES IN THE POETIC WORLD OF INNOKENTY ANNENSKY
The article examines the image of flowers / flower in the poetry by Innokenty Annensky due to the high relevance of floral imagery in his work. It analyzes 22 poems chosen in accordance with the specific way the poet pr...
DIALOGUE AND DIALOGISM IN THE NOVELS OF CRÉBILLON-FILS
Conversation was highly relevant for the 17th and 18th century French aristocratic culture; a simple talk quickly grew into a “real” social ritual with its inner structure and “poetics.” Likewise, it influenced French l...