Palimpsests: literature in the second degree

Product Description By definition, a palimpsest is “a written document, usually on vellum or parchment, that has been written upon several times, often with remnants of erased writing still visible.” Palimpsests (originally published in France in 1982), one of Gérard Genette’s most important works, examines the manifold relationships a text may have with prior texts. Genette describes the multiple ways a later text asks readers to read or remember an earlier one. In this regard, he treats the history and nature of parody, antinovels, pastiches, caricatures, commentary, allusion, imitations, and other textual relations. Gérard Genette is one of the most original and influential literary critics of modern France. He is the major practitioner of narratological criticism, a pioneer in structuralism, and a much-admired literary historian. Such works as Narrative Discourse and Mimologics (Nebraska 1995) have established his international reputation as a literary theorist of the first order. From Library Journal French literary critic and historian Genette, a pioneer of structuralism, has given this literary study an appropriate title. A palimpsest may be defined as a "written document, usually on vellum or parchment, that has been written upon several times, often with remnants of erased writing still visible." Here Genette explores the interrelationships between literary works and explains literary devices such as parody, antinovels, pastiches, caricatures, commentary, allusion, and imitation. For the author, later literary works or "hypertexts" are transpositions of earlier "hypotexts." Thus, Joyce's Ulysses, a hypertext, can be viewed as a transposition of Homer's Ulysses and Vergil's Aeneid, both hypotexts. Unfortunately, Genette's rambling style, termed narralogical criticism, will appear incoherent and disorganized to the unfamiliar reader, and he poses more questions than he answers. This books will be very useful to comparative literature scholars familiar with Genette's style, but it will have little appeal to lay readers.?Robert T. Ivey, Univ. of Memphis, Tenn.Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. Review “Genette’s work on narratology has been extremely influential, and deservedly so; his intertextual studies, undeservedly, far less so. This excellent translation should inspire further work on intertextual theories and practices, including imitations and transformations of Genette’s main points.”—Andrew Reynolds, Journal of European Studies Published On: 2000-04-25“Very useful to comparative literature scholars familiar with Genette’s style.”—Library Journal  Published On: 1998-01-28 About the Author Claude Doubinsky is Maître de conférences with the English Department at the University of Tours. This is his first book-length translation. Channa Newman is a professor of French and cultural studies and coordinator of modern languages at Point Park College.