LES CONTEMPLATIONS of Victor Hugo: An Allegory of the Creative Process

Suzanne Nash

Published by Princeton University Press 1977

LES CONTEMPLATIONS of Victor Hugo

An Allegory of the Creative Process

Suzanne Nash

Volume 1380 in the series Princeton Legacy Library

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400870509

Overview
Contents

About this book

Victor Hugo's work presents the reader with a paradox nowhere more apparent than in the collection of more than 150 lyric poems entitled Les Contemplations. Although he insisted upon structural unity, his complex artistic creations often seem disordered and digressive. Suzanne Nash examines this contradiction, and she proposes here a new approach to Les Contemplations that reveals how it may be read as a unified allegory of Hugo's understanding of the creative process.

The author's reading heightens the subtleties of individual poems by placing them within the context of the collection. She clarifies the poet's use of rhetorical devices and. illuminating Les Contemplations as a metapoetic creation, shows how it can serve as a guide to Hugo's other works.

The first two chapters present evidence of Hugo's narrative intention, place his work within an allegorical tradition, and describe the structure of the allegory. One poem, Pasteurs et troupeaux, is analyzed as a paradigm for the whole, and a single theme, that of Léopoldine as sacrificial muse and figure for poetic language, is traced through the six books. The author demonstrates Hugo's narrative purpose in his use of rhetorical forms and examines (according to predominance of themes, images, and technical devices) the six chapters as steps in the religio-poetic allegory.

Originally published in 1977.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

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Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
I. The Allegorical Nature and Context of Hugo's Work Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
II. The Structure of Hugo's Allegory Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	34
III. Leopoldine—Mediating Angel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	52
IV. Aurore Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
V. L'Ame en fleur Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	108
VI. Les Luttes et les reves Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	124
VII. Pauca meae Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	136
VIII. En marche Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	150
IX. Au bord de I'infini Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	171
X. A celle qui est restee en France Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	194
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
A Selected Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	223