Before Auschwitz: Ir?ne N?mirovsky and the Cultural Landscape of Inter-war Franc [Hardcover]

This book analyses Irene N?mirovskys literary production in its relationship to the literary and cultural context of the inter-war period in France. It examines topics of central importance to our understanding of the literary field in France in the period, such as: the close relationship between politics and literature; the historical, political, cultural and personal legacies of the First World War; the so-called crisis of the novel and the attempt to create and develop new narrative forms; the phenomenon of Russian emigration to Paris in the wake of the Russian Revolution and Civil War; the possibilities for the creation of a French-Jewish identity and mode of writing; and the threat of fascism and the approach of the Second World War.

Acknowledgments Introduction 1: The Making of a Literary Reputation 2: Before David Golder 3: A Russian Soul 4: A Jewish Soul 5: Crisis and Conflict: Constructions of National Identity 6: Conclusions: Second Flowering Notes Bibliography Index

Kershaw analyses Irene N?mirovskys literary production in its relationship to the literary and cultural context of the inter-war period in France, exploring the cultural exchange between France and Russia and the political implications of N?mirovskys fiction--particularly the enthusiastic reception of her work in far-right anti-Semitic journals.

Angela Kershaw is a Senior Lecturer in French at the University of Birmingham. She is the author of Forgotten Engagements: Women, Literature and the Left in 1930s France (Rodopi, 2007).

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