Claire Duras, Edouard

Stacie Allan (Independent Scholar - Europe)

Ed. by Nigel Harkness, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.05: French Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth-Century , 1800-1900.
Vol. editors: David Elwyn Evans (University of St Andrews), Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Elisabeth Gerwin (University of Lethbridge), Nigel Harkness (University of Newcastle upon Tyne), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield), Jennifer Yee (University of Oxford)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1825

Places

France (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Despite not receiving as much scholarly attention as

Ourika

or finding fame as part of a literary scandal like

Olivier ou le Secret

Édouard

has been considered Duras’s finest work (Sainte-Beuve, 71). Written in 1821 and first published in 1825,

Édouard

uses the lens of class to address similar themes of social exclusion and identity conflict to Duras’s two other finished novellas. Set in the 1770s, the plot focuses on the son of a celebrated lawyer from Lyon, and is generally read as an attack on class boundaries, though there is some disagreement amongst critics about how far this criticism extends (see Bertrand-Jennings, 445). Édouard gains limited access to upper-class Parisian society and its opportunities through the Maréchal d’Olonne, his father’s legal client and…

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1433 words

Citation: Allan, Stacie. "Edouard". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 August 2015 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=32190, accessed 21 November 2024.]

Claire Duras, Edouard

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