Although the diary novel is often regarded as a twentieth-century genre due to its particular popularity in this century, the form actually has a long history that originates in the eighteenth century. The Diary Novel is the first book to trace that history, concentrating on French, German and English works with some attention given to Russian and Scandinavian traditions as well. Beginning with a discussion of the definition of the diary novel and some observations about genre study and criticism, Lorna Martens proceeds with interpretations of major diary novels by writers such as Defoe, Gide, Rilke, Frisch, Butor and Lessing. The Diary Novel includes sections on the influence of Richardson and the letter journal novel, the publication of the journaux intimes, psychological fiction, reliability of the narrator and the contemporary diary novel.
Readers once believed in Proust’s madeleine and in Wordsworth’s recollections of his boyhood—but that was before literary culture began to defer to Freud’s questioning of adult memories of childhood.
It takes more than a baby to make a mother, and mothers make more than babies. This edited collection brings together a range of international studies to explore the role of markets and consumption in
