|
 |
 |
| George
Sand at Nohant by Françoise Gilot. Copyright
1986 |
|
|
|
| |
|
To
honor the memory of pioneer Sand
scholar Janis Glasgow, the George
Sand Association created in 2001
the Janis Glasgow Memorial
Prize for the best
doctoral dissertation defended in
the years 2001, 2002, or 2003, in
English or French, in whole or in
part on George Sand. Members of
the Editorial Board of George Sand
Studies will serve as judges of
the manuscripts submitted. The prize
will be awarded during the fall
2004 conference celebrating the
bicentennial of Sand's birth.
|
|
|
|
 |
To
contribute to the fund, please
send your donations, in the form
of checks in U.S. $ made out to
"George Sand Association,"
to:
Annabelle Rea,
Dept of French Literary Studies,
Occidental College,
Los Angeles CA 90041 USA. |
|
|
|
The Janis Glasgow Memorial Prize
It is fitting that a prize in memory
of pioneer Sand scholar Janis Glasgow
be awarded to Susan J. White
for her dissertation, "George Sand
and the Political Poetics of Fiction,"
submitted to her committee (Professors
Nicholas Hewitt and Judith Still of
the University of Nottingham and Professor
Peter Dayan of the University of Edinburgh)
in July of 2002. Sue White's work breaks
exciting new ground with its original
focus on Sand as a narrative theoretician,
its exceptionally strong theoretical
underpinnings, its examination of important
but little-known texts (such as "Le
Poème de Myrza," Les Amours
de l'âge d'or, Isidora, and
La Confession d'une jeune fille)
as well as better-known works (Consuelo
and Jeanne, for example), and,
not least, its elegance of expression.
The members of the Janis Glasgow Memorial
Prize Committee (Lucienne Frappier-Mazur,
Anne McCall, David Powell, and Annabelle
Rea) were unanimous in their choice
of Sue White as the prize recipient.
It is the committee's hope that GSA
members will see this fine work in print
as quickly as possible. Sue wrote in
her application, her desire is "not
just to make a contribution within George
Sand studies itself, in an international
context, but also to raise George Sand's
profile as a narrative theoretician
within the wider academic community."
We wish her every success in this endeavor.
ABSTRACT This
thesis is concerned with the theory
of language and signification developed
in the works of George Sand. Reading
Sand as a key junction in debates on
politics and post-structuralism, it
investigates language exchange by her
characters in relation to the production
of meaning, and discusses this in its
implication with narrative representation.
Previous criticism has addressed the
status of Sand's writing in relation
to Realism, but in general it has done
so only in terms of realist sub-genres
or a difference in ideological content,
rather than any structural investigation
of the formal features of her writing.
Yet Sand's reception as a writer belies
the theoretical modernity of much of
her writing, which takes her far beyond
the Realist paradigm. Many of Sand's
novels demonstrate a level of formal
self-exploration vis-à-vis the representational
nature of fiction and a degree of reflexivity
which draws attention to their formal
production. The main focus of this study
is the way in which several of Sand's
novels foreground their own medium,
language, or more especially women's
use of language. In each of the novels
studied, the use of language by female
characters is explored as a means of
intervening in and challenging the power
structures which narrative representation
depends on for the production and control
of meaning. The starting point for this
is Sand's conception of language and
semiotics which forms the cornerstone
of Sand's theory of fiction. The first
chapter examines Sand's rewriting of
myths of origin as reworkings of the
Fall, and studies the implications of
this for language and meaning in Sand's
works via readings of "Le Poème
de Myrza" and Les Amours de
l'âge d'or. Evenor et Leucippe. Légende
antédiluvienne. The second chapter
explores Consuelo's relationship to
language as a nomadic polyglot and examines
her racial identity as a gypsy in relation
to narrative imperialism. Chapter three
is an investigation of women's difficulty
with language in Rose et Blanche and
Jeanne and the alleged stupidity of
the main female protagonists as a function
of male economies of mimesis. Chapter
four discusses the gift of the name
between the two female protagonists
in relation to the representation of
a prostitute and the demand for narrative
in Isidora. Chapter five explores
Lucienne de Valangis' narrative quest
for her rightful name in La Confession
d'une jeune fille, and in particular
the semiotic politics of the name in
relation to the problem of female adultery
and narrative origins. Through these
readings it will become clear that Sand's
female characters engage with language
in ways that challenge and delegitimate
the political power and authority of
narrative as an organized system of
signs and meanings. Through their conflict
with narrative authority, the female
characters are, in effect, working towards
a different political system of narrative
production and the liberation of the
novel. |
| |
|
Checks in Canadian $ should also be
sent to the same address, but should
be made payable to "Annabelle
Rea," who will deposit the equivalent
amount in US $ to the prize account
(a separate account has been opened
for the prize money). Those wishing
to contribute euros may do so via:
Françoise Massardier-Kenney
(checks should be payable to Françoise,
libellés au nom de Françoise
Massardier-Kenney),
Modern and Classical Language
Studies,
Kent State University, P.O. Box 5190,
Kent, OH 44242-0001.
All contributions will be acknowledged
by e-mail or post.
George
Sand Studies volume 20 for 2001
published a tribute to our friend
and colleague, Janis Glasgow.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
