Nowhere is Perfect: French and Francophone Utopias/Dystopias

by John West-Sooby (Editor)

Overview

Utopian imaginings undoubtedly satisfy a desire for fantasy and escape. At the same time, however, they are generally anchored in the real world, whose shortcomings they criticise, implicitly or explicitly, and for which they purport to offer solutions. The creation of perfect imaginary worlds therefore serves as a means of acting on the imperfect present. This is a particular feature of French utopian writing, whose rich tradition continues to grow, inspiring authors from all parts of the Francophone world. As the essays in this volume demonstrate, the utopian-and dystopian-imaginings which constitute that tradition find expression through all genres and modes of creation. What they have in common, though, is a dissatisfaction with contemporary society and a determination to explore possibilities for a better life. A non-existent place the utopia may be. But it is precisely because there is nowhere perfect that we continue to seek the perfect nowhere.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780874130485
Publisher:	Monash Romance Studies
Publication date:	06/28/2008
Pages:	252
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.90(d)

Table of Contents

Nowhere is perfect   John West-Sooby     1
The Politics of Utopia
Montesquieu's anti-utopian political theory   Philip Gerrans     11
Expiation in the Antipodes: A Utopian Endeavour for the French?   Jacqueline Dutton     27
Biribi: histoire d'un non-lieu de l'imaginaire francais   Dominique Kalifa     44
Philippe Henriot's Utopia: Propaganda and the Last Days of Vichy   Kay Chadwick     61
Utopia and Ideology in the Nineteenth Century
Fourier, Gautier, Banville: Utopisme et textes litteraires   Peter Hambly     71
Un poeme utopique de Baudelaire: "J'aime le souvenir..."   Peter Hambly     100
Mecenes de l'utopie fin-de-siecle: le cas de Paul Adam et d'Emile Zola   Jean Fornasiero     108
Regeneration: Time, Place and Gender in Fin-de-Siecle Utopian Narrative   Penny Boumelha     123
Utopia and the Modern Novel
Escaping from Gide's Dystopia   William Jennings     139
The New Frontier: the Human Utopia of Romain Gary   David Bellos     152
The Competing Caribbean Utopias of Edouard Glissant and Patrick Chamoiseau   Peter Poiana     168
Utopia and Dystopia in Gisele Pineau's L'Exil selon Julia and Fleur de Barbarie   Bonnie Thomas     180
The Utopia/Dystopia of Modern Life
"Du verre, rien que du verre": Negotiating Utopia in Playtime   Ben McCann     193
La "maison de verre": utopies corporelles et arts de guerir dans Le Protocole compassionnel d'Herve Guibert   Francoise Grauby     211
L'Invention du Troisieme Peuple: the Utopian Vision of Philippe Grandrieux's Dystopias   Greg Hainge     228
"Tu reves?": utopies, dystopies et heterotopies dans quelques ecrits beurs   Helene Jaccomard     240