{"product_id":"victims-of-the-book-reading-and-masculinity-in-fin-de-si-65533-cle-france-hardcover","title":"Victims of the Book: Reading and Masculinity in Fin-de-Si\u0026#65533;cle France - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eFrancois Proulx\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eVictims of the Book\u003c\/em\u003e uncovers a long-neglected but once widespread subgenre: the fin-de-siècle novel of formation in France. In the final decades of the nineteenth century, social commentators insistently characterized excessive reading as an emasculating illness that afflicted French youth. Novels about and geared toward adolescent male readers were imbued with a deep worry over young Frenchmen's masculinity, as evidenced by titles like \u003cem\u003eCrise de jeunesse\u003c\/em\u003e (\u003cem\u003eYouth in Crisis\u003c\/em\u003e, 1897), \u003cem\u003eLa Crise virile\u003c\/em\u003e (\u003cem\u003eCrisis of Virility\u003c\/em\u003e, 1898), \u003cem\u003eLa Vie stérile\u003c\/em\u003e (\u003cem\u003eA Sterile Life\u003c\/em\u003e, 1892), and \u003cem\u003eLa Mortelle Impuissance\u003c\/em\u003e (\u003cem\u003eDeadly Impotence\u003c\/em\u003e, 1903). In this book, François Proulx examines a wide panorama of these novels, as well as polemical essays, pedagogical articles, and medical treatises on the perceived threats posed by young Frenchmen's reading habits. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eFin-de-siècle writers responded to this pathologization of reading with a profusion of novels addressed to young male readers, paradoxically proposing their own novels as potential cures. In the early twentieth century, this corpus was critically revisited by a new generation of writers. \u003cem\u003eVictims of the Book\u003c\/em\u003e shows how André Gide and Marcel Proust in particular reworked the fin-de-siècle paradox to subvert cultural norms about literature and masculinity, proposing instead a queer pact between writer and reader.\u003c\/p\u003e\n        \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 408\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.5 x 9.1 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e November 08, 2019\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42686435196991,"sku":"9781487505479","price":165.87,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0105\/8226\/1823\/files\/473b80b7ad4657b749fb23607c5c5f4d.webp?v=1764974934","url":"https:\/\/dhl-adrianne.myshopify.com\/products\/victims-of-the-book-reading-and-masculinity-in-fin-de-si-65533-cle-france-hardcover","provider":"BBB","version":"1.0","type":"link"}