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This book examines the concept of the gaze in the context of narrative fiction. It argues that the gaze in fiction is a tractable factor, identifying the function of characters by way of the gender. The gaze variance and its connection to memory is not new to literary scholarship, but what has been overlooked to date is the fact that the divide exists along the line of gender. The dyad gaze-memory, provided by literary scholarship thus far is erroneous; what emerges instead is a triadic paradigm gaze-memory-gender. The gender divide is reflected in neuroscience, which shows memory processing in man and woman as respectively losing (forgetting) or retaining (remembering) vividness of detail. The discussion focuses on two narratives, one ancient (the Orphic cycle) the other modern (the novel Le Grand Meaulnes) to show that despite the presence of new narrative devices and conventions, the rules of the paradigm are preserved. “Nelly G. Kupper has produced a provocative study that draws upon cognitive psychology and gender studies, archetypal patterns of heroism and plot, and the importance of the gaze. She offers a new interpretation of the Orpheus story whose backward glance would seem to contradict the forward thrust of the masculine pattern of heroism. She then turns to examine a modern version of this pattern through an interpretation of Alain-Fournier’s Le Grand Meaulnes. Rich and wide-ranging, this study demonstrates the potential rewards of interdisciplinary approaches to literary criticism.”—Jenny Strauss Clay, Classics, University of Virginia... “Gaze, Memory, and Gender in Narrative from Ancient to Modern invites us to re-understand fictional text through the enlightened triadic paradigm gaze-memory-gender. In the discussion of Alain-Fournier’s Le Grand Meaulnes, which has been read by generations of scholars and students for over a century, the application of the archetypal triad unveils great many new revelations. No doubt Le Grand Meaulnes will continue its presence as a modern classic in the French curriculum thanks to this book’s contribution for a nouvelle lecture.”—Didier Valéry, Professeur de lettres modernes, Académie de Montpellier, France... “Gaze, Memory, and Gender in Narrative from Ancient to Modern is a solid contribution to French studies, dealing with canonical texts, but it is also an ambitious project on a larger scale, which helps fill in some important gaps in our knowledge of the function of memory in fiction. What is particularly striking about this scholarship is the gender-specific dimension to the work, which explores whether women and men remember and represent memory differently. This book will reinvigorate the ongoing debate between social-constructivist and essentialist perceptions of how the brain and literature function in gendered contexts.”—Bent Sørensen, President of the PsyArt Foundation; Associate Professor of Culture and Global Studies, Aalborg University, Denmark... “Using the perspective of neuroscience and analyses of archetypal patterns, Gaze, Memory, and Gender in Narrative from Ancient to Modern proposes a fresh and convincing reinterpretation of Alain-Fournier’s canonic novel Le Grand Meaulnes. Nelly G. Kupper’s analysis sheds light on the oppositional dynamic between Meaulnes as archetype of the masculine hero, who must not look back, and Seurel, the narrator who embodies Christian values. The book’s stimulating inquiry demonstrates the centrality of the adventure novel for the renewal of French literature in the early twentieth century.”—Marie-Eve Thérenty, Professor of French Literature; Director of the Research Center on Literature and the Arts of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries (RIRRA21), University of Paul-Valéry, Montpellier 3, France...
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