Click cover to enlarge

 Open access under:
CC BY-NC 4.0

Part of the book: Violette Leduc

Alex Hughes

MHRA Texts and Dissertations 37

W. S. Maney & Son Ltd for the Modern Humanities Research Association

ContemporaryFrenchFictionopen

Abstract.  During the eighteen years that followed the publication of her first novel, Violette Leduc’s work drew critical esteem from a small group of intellectuals and fellow writers, but was otherwise largely ignored. During the sixties and early seventies, in the wake of the furore that accompanied the appearance of La Bâtarde, she achieved a degree of popular success which barely fell short of notoriety, and the originality of her writing was finally widely acknowledged by reviewers and critics. Sadly, however, interest in Leduc’s texts waned once more after her death in 1972, and it is only recently that she has re-emerged from literary exile, thanks primarily to work that has been done on her writing in the United States. This monograph seeks to extend and refine a body of critical analysis by scholars who have brought to Leduc’s œuvre the attention and recognition it deserves. A brief account of Leduc’s life and, more importantly, of the critical responses her texts have elicited will guide the reader towards an understanding of the nature and scope of my project.

Full text.  This contribution is published as Open Access and can be downloaded as a PDF, or viewed as a PDF in your web browser, here:

Link to full text as PDF