Description
Book SynopsisFor decades, Elisabeth Ladenson says, critics have misread or ignored a crucial element in Marcel Proust's fiction—his representation of lesbians. Her challenging new book definitively establishes the centrality of lesbianism as sexual obsession and...
Trade ReviewA remarkably close reading of Proust's remarkably long novel, Ladenson's persuasive book will change the way we interpret Proust.... Ladenson's prose is also quite gratifying to read—a rare thing in the Academy that makes this erudite book both provocative and immensely entertaining.
* Virginia Quarterly Review *
Carefully orchestrated.... Ladenson scours Proust's early work... and converts the scattered evidence of lesbianism into a genuinely thought-provoking synthesis.
* Times Literary Supplement *
Through a series of finely articulated, close re-readings of Proust's Recherche, this book... provides us with what amounts to be no less than a systematic reassessment of the novel's entire sexual economy, the cornerstone of which being precisely what has been so far mostly ignored or dismissed by critics: Proust's representation of female homosexuality. A brilliant contribution to both the field of queer studies and Proustian criticism.
* Modern and Contemporary France *
