Claudel's most important work, Le Soulier de satin, has confused and puzzled readers since it first appeared. Joan S. Freilich's intensive examination of Claudel's imagery combined stylistic , structuralist, and psychoanalytic analyses. These are new methods that have been developed over the past two decades and are based on an examination of the text from the reader's point of view. This is a radical break with conventional literary studies which examine literature biographically or comparatively, i.e., focusing on the relationship of the text to other works written by the same or different authors, to the author's life and historical setting, or to various linguistic norms. Recent stylistic studies have as their point of departure the reader's perception of certain elements of style as unpredictable, and thus 'marked,' in an otherwise unmarked context; such studies seek to determine which of these 'stylistic devices' are present within a given text and what their effect is on the reader's response to the work. Structuralist analyses involve the identification and description of the basic system of concepts around which the literary text is constructed. This fundamental system, or structure, is the source of the reader's sense that the text is a coherent whole, but it is itself an abstraction and can be perceived only through one or more of the variants through which it is actualized in the text. Finally, the psychoanalytic interpretation of a literary work attempts to elucidate the most fundamental effective concepts conveyed through the text, concepts which evoke corresponding emotional responses in the reader and which, although often unrecognized, are thus responsible for much of his interest in, and appreciation of, the work. Stylistic and structuralist methods have been used together in recent years, but this study of the Soulier de satin represents the first time that psychoanalytic interpretation has been included as part of a stylistic and structuralist analysis in which the focus throughout is on the relationship of the text to the reader and the point of departure is the reader's response to the work. Furthermore, most Claudelian criticism has been vague and general in nature but this work is specific and represents an unusual and unique contribution.

Claudel's most important work, Le Soulier de satin , has confused and puzzled readers since it first appeared. Joan S. Freilich's intensive examination of Claudel's imagery combined stylistic, structuralist, and psychoanalytic analyses.

Claudel's most important work, Le Soulier de satin , has confused and puzzled readers since it first appeared. Joan S. Freilich's intensive examination of Claudel's imagery combined stylistic, structuralist, and psychoanalytic analyses.

Provides the most complete listing available of books, articles, and book reviews concerned with French literature since 1885. The bibliography is divided into three major divisions: general studies, author subjects (arranged alphabetically), and cinema. This book is for the study of French literature and culture.

This annual French XX Bibliography provides the most complete listing available of books, articles, and book reviews concerned with French literature since 1885. Unique in its scope, thoroughness, and reliability of information, it has become an essential reference source in the study of modern French literature and culture. The bibliography is divided into three major divisions: general studies, author subjects (arranged alphabetically), and cinema. Number 59 in the series contains 12,703 entries. William J. Thompson is Associate Professor of French and Undergraduate and Interdisciplinary Programs in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Memphis.

This series of bibliographical references is one of the most important tools for research in modern and contemporary French literature. No other bibliography represents the scholarly activities and publications of these fields as completely.

The first full-scale investigation of the theology of Ratzinger: a man of Church-political significance and a major Catholic theologian of the twentieth century.