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From Dreams to Despair
An Integrated Reading of The Novels of Boris Vian
Series: - Faux Titre, Volume: 146
Author:
This book is a study of the novels of Boris Vian, the artist, writer, jazz musician and occasional pornographer. Primarily known for his classic novel of doomed young love, L'Ecume des jours, and the pseudonymously-written erotic roman noir J'irai cracher sur vos tombes, his work displays a bewildering variety of styles, genres and narrative voices. The purpose of this book is to show that Vian's novels in fact display an overall thematic coherence, dramatizing the growth of the individual from childhood to adolescent idealism and ultimate adult disillusion. Vian is a highly popular author in France: this book seeks to prove that he is also a serious literary artist. The wordplay, pastiche and parody which fill his texts should not blind the reader to the deeper themes and issues which lie behind them, just as the protean character of his style should not be allowed to conceal the single integrated narrative which runs throughout his novels.
Acknowledgements. Foreword. Table of Abbreviations. CHAPTER 1 Boris Vian - Myth and Reality. CHAPTER 2 Trouble dans les Andains and Vercoquin et le plancton - Pastiche, Parody, and the self-destructive text. CHAPTER 3 L'Ecume des jours and L'Automne à Pékin. - Entering Adulthood. CHAPTER 4 J'irai cracher sur vos tombes and Les Morts ont tous la même peau. - Vian à l'américain. CHAPTER 5 Et on tuera tous les affreux and Elles se rendent pas compte - Burlesque, genre and gender. CHAPTER 6 L'Herbe rouge and L'Arrache-coeur. - Unhappy Families. CHAPTER 7 Summing up - the future for Vian. Bibliography. Index.