Realism and Revolution: Balzac, Stendhal, Zola and the Performances of History

by Sandy Petrey

Sandy Petrey here looks at the emergence of nineteenth-century French realism in the light of the concept of speech acts as defined by J. L. Austin and as exemplified by the history of the French Revolution. Through analysis of the techniques of representation in works by Balzac, Stendhal, and Zola, Petrey suggests that the expression of a truth depends on the same collective forces necessary to change a regime.

According to Petrey, political...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801422167
• ISBN13: 9780801422164
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 1.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher