Processes of Literary Creation

This work examines the genetic processes that shaped two of the great literary masterpieces of modernity: Flaubert's "L'Education Sentimentale" and Proust's "A la Recherche de Temps Perdu". A detailed investigation of Flaubert's notebooks and scenarios from 1864 and 1869 and Proust's "Cahiers" from 1908 to 1911 reveals the almost diametrically opposed ways in which the two novels evolved in their early stages. Acknowledgements, Note, Introduction, Prologue: An Anatomy of Genetic Criticism, 1. The Intellectual Foundations o f the Genetic School, 2. The Material Analysis, Classification and Editing of Modem Manuscripts, 3. Avant-Texte and Published Text, 4. The Critical Potential, 5. Questions of Methodology, 6. Genetic Horizons, PART I, Flaubert: The Macro-Structural Elaboration of L’Education sentimentale, 1. Flaubert, a Programmatic Writer, 2. Documentation, 3. Textuality and Narrativity, 4. Architectural and Narrative Organization, 5. Avant-Texte and Published Text: The Modernity Debate Revisited, PART II, Proust: The Genesis of A la recherche du temps perdu in the Period 1908 to 1911, 1. Proust, an Immanent Writer, 2. The Cahiers Contre Sainte-Beuve: Emergence of Narrative Strands and Thematic Networks (December 1908-Spring 1909), 3. The Development of the Cahiers Contre Sainte-Beuve between Summer 1909 and Summer 1911: Emergence of Narrative Cohesion, Epilogue: In Defence of Textuality, Appendix, Table: Chronology for Proust’s Cahiers from the End of 1908 to the Second Typescript (Summer 1911), Bibliography, Index