Cervantes, Flaubert, and the Quixotic counter -genre.
Item
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Title
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Cervantes, Flaubert, and the Quixotic counter -genre.
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Identifier
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AAI3008827
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identifier
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3008827
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Creator
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Fox, Soledad Carmen.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Vincent Crapanzano
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Date
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2001
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Literature, Comparative | Literature, Romance | Language, Modern
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Abstract
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In this study, Cervantes's Don Quixote is considered as a point of departure for tracing the development of the quixotic novel as a unique type of prose fiction that initially arose as a counter-genre to existing classifications of both poetry and prose. Don Quijote's modernity is examined vis-a-vis its own epoch, and in terms of its perennial afterlife. The impact of Cervantes's innovations are broadened and illuminated by juxtaposing his novelistic innovations to those of one of his key "disciples": Gustave Flaubert. This study uncovers specific traces of Cervantes's literary heritage in the work of Flaubert, and shows how Flaubert's own conception of the novel, and of his vocation, is deepened when seen in light of his quixotic foundations. Flaubert strove to assert and renew the supremacy of the prose novel in his own time---to reposition it as a counter-genre---and saw himself as a direct heir to Cervantes's struggle and vision. Don Quijote can be found lurking in the shadows of several of Flaubert's works, however, the quixotic legacy is most explicitly incarnated in Madame Bovary. Emma Bovary, like Alonso Quijano, attempts to mold her identity and fuel her desires according to the models provided by the outmoded popular novels she reads. The strategy of making the main character an avid consumer of literature is the central quixotic move. While seeming to champion fantasy vs. "reality", I argue that the central concern of the quixotic novel is in fact its own supremacy over rival fictions. For Cervantes and Flaubert, literary conventions, not reality, are presented as the true threat to literature. Their works openly acknowledge their literary competitors and influences, and proceed to dismantle them by ironically, and mimetically, exposing their conventions. The significance of Flaubert's contributions to the novel's evolution and his seminal connection to Don Quixote suggest that a particular quixotic history of the novel can be retold from the standpoint of Cervantes. The exploration of this history is the goal of this study.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
