French Literature Reviews - 2026

A. Faudemay, The Grotesque, Humor, Identity — Twenty Transversal Studies on European Literatures (19th-20th Centuries)
Other Literary Studies

Alain Faudemay, The Grotesque, Humor, Identity — Twenty Transversal Studies on European Literatures (19th-20th Centuries)

Geneva: Slatkine, 2012.

EAN 9782051022620.

Price: 170 EUR

Publisher's Description:

What is offered to the reader here is by no means a mere hodgepodge, but a carefully structured work, both chronologically and in the selection of studies it brings together. A large part of the book is previously unpublished, and the studies that have already appeared have, for the most part, been revised or expanded. Structured in three parts, the volume is organized around major historical shifts. The first part focuses on the rise of Romanticism: the scientific spirit asserts itself, the religious crisis grows more complex, and the Ancien Régime gives way to new forms of government.
The second part centers on the "long" nineteenth century, from Romanticism to "Decadence" and Surrealism; this is accompanied by major demographic shifts, the rise of urbanization, and the growth of "individualism". The third part focuses on the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, while drawing on previous eras; it examines the expansion and subsequent questioning of Western supremacy. To what extent did these political and cultural configurations enable, or even foster, new aesthetics at the intersection of belief, knowledge, and power? The grotesque shifts in meaning when new knowledge clashes with old beliefs.
Humor is often aligned with vulnerability and doubt, but does not preclude conviction. The notion of identity—less tolerant and less rebellious when it does not stem from the disenfranchised—unites only by excluding... Thus, numerous ambiguities both connect and contrast these three terms at the heart of the lexicographical and textual network that informs our work. The title also refers to alphabetical order (G, H, I), which is the subject of one of these twenty transversal studies. The book is illustrated with sixteen black-and-white reproductions, carefully chosen in connection with several of the topics discussed.

Alain Faudemays collection brings together twenty transversal studies that trace the evolution of literary aesthetics across major historical shifts in Europe. Ranging from the rise of Romanticism through the long nineteenth century to the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the volume examines how profound political, demographic, and cultural transformations reshaped literature. By analyzing the complex interplay between belief, knowledge, and power, the author offers readers a structured exploration of how distinct historical moments fostered new modes of artistic expression and critical reflection.

This scholarly resource will prove particularly useful for students, researchers, and enthusiasts of comparative literature and European intellectual history who wish to explore the intricate relationships between aesthetic forms and cultural identity. The book addresses fundamental questions regarding how the grotesque transforms when confronted with new knowledge, how humor reflects human vulnerability and doubt, and how concepts of identity operate through inclusion and exclusion. It serves as a valuable guide for anyone seeking to understand the shifting paradigms of Western literature over the past two centuries.