Rewriting rewriting

"The modern obsession with literary reiteration manifests itself in a rather unique way in the narratives of Marguerite Duras, Annie Ernaux, and Marie Redonnet. These authors systemically and repeatedly rewrite their own texts, and in so doing, give evidence of three of the more salient aspects of twentieth-century French literature: a trend toward the representation of multifaceted selves, a desire to reevaluate the literary paradigm, and an acute concern for the unreliability of language. This book argues that the rewriting performed by Duras, Ernaux, and Redonnet moves beyond the tacit rewriting that occurs in any text toward a renovation of various features of the literary arena within which they circulate. Cathy Jellenik argues that all writing contains rewriting - an argument grounded in the theoretical apparatuses of Saussure, Bakhtin, Benveniste, Barthes, Kristeva, and Derrida. She then examines and interrogates the ways in which Duras, Ernaux, and Redonnet use rewriting to question and rethink the literary traditions they inherit. Jellenik suggests that the rewriting projects of Duras, Ernaux, and Redonnet promise to lead them, and their readers, toward the creation of a new literary aesthetic capable of responding to the questions of our times."--BOOK JACKET.