Francois Mauriac

Psycholectures/Psychoreadings

edited by John Flower and contributions by M-J. Bataille, William Kidd, Paul Croc, Olivier Maison, Michel Malicet, Josette Pacaly, M-C Praicheux, Marc Quaghebeur and John Flower

Book cover: Francois Mauriac

Extent: 278 pages

Publisher: University of Exeter Press

Subjects: Literary Studies

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(November 1995)

ISBN: 9780859894272

6.1 x 9.17 inches

Price: $67.00

In stock

FranCois Mauriac is one of France’s most read and consistently studied modern writers. Most of the essays in this collection are written from a psychobiographical or psychocritical viewpoint, drawing on the work of Freud, Marthe Robert, Klein, Lacan and Mauron.


Francois Mauriac is one of France’s most read and consistently studied modern writers. For more than a decade Mauriac’s work has been increasingly subjected to analyses drawing their inspiration in one way or another from psychology. Most of the essays in this collection are written from a psychobiographical or psychocritical viewpoint, drawing on the work of Freud, Marthe Robert, Klein, Lacan and Mauron. In some cases they investigate recurrent themes, motifs or preoccupations in Mauriac’s work as a whole, in others they focus their attention on individual texts. Brought together they indicate the richness of this kind of approach as well as of the material at which it is directed. The essays are presented in the language of original composition (English or French) with a complete set of summaries in the alternate language in an appendix.

1. La mere, personnage cle dans les romans de Mauriac, J.E. Flower 2. La paternite dans "
Le Noeud de Viperes"
et "
La Pharisienne"
de Mauriac, Josette Pacaly 3. Sens et signification du theme du double dans les premiers romans de Francois Mauriac, Olivier Maison 4. Sisters and brother-sister relationships in the novels of Francois Mauriac, J.E. Flower 5. Une lecture du "
Sang d'Atys"
, Marc Quaghebeur 6. Oedipal and pre-Oedipal elements in "
Therese Desqueyroux"
, William Kidd 7. "
Therese Desqueyroux"
, Marc Quaghebeur 8. Towards a psychobiological study of Mauriac - the case of "
Genitrix"
, J.E. Flower 9. Mauriac's revolutionary phantasm - the textual unconsciousness in "
Genitrix"
, William Kidd 10. "
Ce qui etait perdu"
et la "
passion etrangere"
, J.E. Flower 11. "
Un Adolescent d'autrefois"
ou le roman d'Atys, Olivier Maison et J.E. Flower 12. Droles d'oiseaux ("
Le Mal"
de Francois Mauriac), M.-J. Bataille 13. Censure et autocensure dans "
L'Agneau"
et dans "
Le Sagouin"
de Mauriac, Michel Malicet 14. Mauriac et Freud, Paul Croc 15.Mauriac, Freud - l'absence d'une conjonction de coordination, M.-C. Praicheu 16. Le Noeud gordien - Mauriac et la psychanalyse, M.-J. Bataille

  • Contributions by John Flower
  • Contributions by William Kidd
  • Contributions by Olivier Maison
  • Contributions by Michel Malicet
  • Contributions by Josette Pacaly
  • Contributions by M-C Praicheux