Plot and Ideology in the Nineteenth Century French Novel

FAIN: FA-11752-77

Dennis D. Porter
University of Massachusetts, Amherst (Amherst, MA 01003-9242)

To arrive at a working definition of the concept of plot in the light of modern critical theory, then to explore a representative selection of the novels of Stendhal, Balzac and Flaubert in order to determine specific characteristics of plot in each case in terms of plot type and the nature of causality. PI will also examine the ideological implications of the perceived order that the various plots embody and test resultant conclusions both against the professed political altitudes of the different novelists involved and against certain theories of narrative typology.