Palimpsests: Literature in the Second DegreeBy 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. |
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Achilles action adventures Aeneid Alcmena allographic already ambiguous Amphitryon amplification Antigone antiromance Balzac become Borges burlesque called caricature century Cervantes Chapter character commentary complete continuation death denouement diegesis diegetic discourse Don Quixote dramatic effect entirely epic evidently example fact Faust Flaubert French function Gallimard Genette genre Giraudoux Greek Hector Helen hero heterodiegetic Homer hypertextual hypotext Iliad imitation Jean language least less literary manner Marianne Marivaux meaning Menelaus mock-heroic mode modern Molière motive narrative narrator Note novel obviously Odyssey Oedipus original Oulipo Paris parody pastiche perhaps play playful poem poetic practice prose Proust purely reader reading reduced Rimbaud Robinson romance Sainte-Beuve satirical sequel simple Sophocles speaking specific Stendhal story style stylistic summary Telemachus term textual thematic theme things Thomas Mann tragedy trans transformation translation transposition Trojan Trojan War Troy turn Ulysses Virgil vulgar word writing