How Long to Read This Woman I Play: The Pleasure (and Talent) of Theatricality in Laclos, Diderot and Rousseau

How Long Does it Take to Read This Woman I Play: The Pleasure (and Talent) of Theatricality in Laclos, Diderot and Rousseau?

It takes the average reader 3 hours and 8 minutes to read This Woman I Play: The Pleasure (and Talent) of Theatricality in Laclos, Diderot and Rousseau by Nancy Reid Wischard Knezevic

Assuming a reading speed of 250 words per minute. Learn more

Description

My dissertation uses Choderlos de Laclos's Les liaisons dangereuses as a prism to show the importance of the triptych formed by theatricality, talent and pleasure in eighteenth-century French literature. In the first chapter, I examine Laclos's literary criticism to highlight the relevance of theatrical pleasure in Laclos's conception of the novel. The novel, in Laclos's view, should give the reader the same pleasure as the theater gives the spectator. This position, I argue, finds its historical resonance in Corneille. In chapter two, I show that it is because Rousseau valued theatricality as women's natural talent that he disparages the public appearance of actresses inside the theater. In Chapter three, I examine Diderot's conception of the actor in Le Paradoxe sur le Comedien to highlight the irony ignored by most critics: whenever Diderot refers to an example of great talent, he speaks of actresses, not actors only. Contrary to Rousseau, Diderot values talent as the ability to overcome what is natural, and feminine. The comparison of Le Paradoxe to his Lettres a Mademoiselle Jodin shows that Diderot outlines a specific role for theatricality in an actress' private life as the tireless performance of virtue. For both authors, the concepts of theatricality and talent serve the spectator's pleasure: the private spectator in the case of Rousseau, the theater spectator for Diderot. In chapter four, we see that Laclos considers theatricality as a means for Merteuil to negotiate the tug between sexual identity, how she is identified, and her talent. I show that Merteuil's exceptionality resides in her capacity to experience jouissance as it was defined in the XVIIIth century: the right to reap the fruits of one's labor. What makes Merteuil a rare protagonist is not her acting per se, it is the pleasure she reaps from her gleeful and ironic gaze. In effect Laclos's (female) reader discovers in the novel a model of jouissance last seen by the (male) audience of Corneille's Medee. Laclos's representation of Merteuil's theatricality, and the pleasure she derives from playing with gender roles gives his novel a unique place in eighteenth-century French literature.

How long is This Woman I Play: The Pleasure (and Talent) of Theatricality in Laclos, Diderot and Rousseau?

This Woman I Play: The Pleasure (and Talent) of Theatricality in Laclos, Diderot and Rousseau by Nancy Reid Wischard Knezevic is 185 pages long, and a total of 47,175 words.

This makes it 62% the length of the average book. It also has 58% more words than the average book.

How Long Does it Take to Read This Woman I Play: The Pleasure (and Talent) of Theatricality in Laclos, Diderot and Rousseau Aloud?

The average oral reading speed is 183 words per minute. This means it takes 4 hours and 17 minutes to read This Woman I Play: The Pleasure (and Talent) of Theatricality in Laclos, Diderot and Rousseau aloud.

What Reading Level is This Woman I Play: The Pleasure (and Talent) of Theatricality in Laclos, Diderot and Rousseau?

This Woman I Play: The Pleasure (and Talent) of Theatricality in Laclos, Diderot and Rousseau is suitable for students ages 10 and up.

Note that there may be other factors that effect this rating besides length that are not factored in on this page. This may include things like complex language or sensitive topics not suitable for students of certain ages.

When deciding what to show young students always use your best judgement and consult a professional.

Where Can I Buy This Woman I Play: The Pleasure (and Talent) of Theatricality in Laclos, Diderot and Rousseau?

This Woman I Play: The Pleasure (and Talent) of Theatricality in Laclos, Diderot and Rousseau by Nancy Reid Wischard Knezevic is sold by several retailers and bookshops. However, Read Time works with Amazon to provide an easier way to purchase books.

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