The Backward Look

Description:

"Theories of memory and fictional recreations of the remembering mind have occupied a central place in French literature since Montaigne. Goodden investigates the shifting relation between cognitive or 'scientific' memory and emotional or spiritual recollection in a series of major writers from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. Her study focuses on the eighteenth century, where the interplay between memory and imagination and the link between self-knowledge and self-presentation are shown to be exceptionally fertile." "The philosophical, scientific and fictional writings of Diderot and the novels and autobiographical works of Rousseau are central to this ground-breaking work, which will be of interest to all readers concerned with the specificity of the French literary tradition."--BOOK JACKET.

subjects: French fiction,  French prose literature,  History and criticism,  French literature, history and criticism, 16th century,  French literature, history and criticism, 17th century,  French literature, history and criticism, 18th century,  French literature, history and criticism, 19th century,  French literature, history and criticism, 20th century,  Roman français,  Histoire et critique

People: Denis Diderot (1713-1784),  Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

Times: 18th century,  19th century