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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Ambiguity in Charlotte Bronte's Villette

Ambiguity in Charlotte Bronte's Villette

Springer, Olga

Hardcover

Series: Close Reading, Book 3

Literary Criticism

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 3847111191
ISBN13: 9783847111191
Publisher: V&R Unipress
Published: Feb 17 2020
Pages: 283
Weight: 1.14
Height: 0.90 Width: 5.90 Depth: 9.10
Language: English
Charlotte Bronte's 1853 novel Villette has been associated with ambiguity because of its open ending. But there are many other aspects relevant to ambiguity. Lucy's ambivalent attitude toward herself and others, her reticence and stylistic idiosyncrasies (such as negations and inversions) as a narrator make the novel a text in which ambiguity is all-pervasive: it is embodied in Lucy Snowe's signature phrase, 'I know not, ' expressive of her existential doubts and questioning attitude toward the world. The study explores the narrator-protagonist's ambivalent attitude toward herself and others, through an analysis of her stylistic idiosyncrasies such as negations and inversions. It moreover focuses on the motif of the oracle as a traditionally ambiguous utterance, and explores its relevance in the context of the generic tradition in which Villette stands. A further central theme is the novel's use of allegories and the interplay of the figurative and literal levels of meaning, imparting an ambiguous quality to the text.

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