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This book is the first critical survey of the work of Éric Jourdan. Jourdan first came to public attention as a schoolboy in 1955, when he published Les Mauvais anges, a sulphorous novel of adolescent male-to-male love, which was banned by the censors in 1956 and again in 1974. It did not officially appear until 1984. Despite the ban, and despite ongoing censorship, Jourdan continues to write novels, short stories and plays. His many books include the 'trilogy' Charité, Révolte and Sang, and other equally uninhibited texts such as Le Garçon de joie, Aux gémonies and Le Jeune soldat. More recent publications include short stories, historical novels (Sans lois ni dieux, Lieutenant Darmancour) and the more autobiographical text Trois coeurs.
This study charts Jourdan's writing career from Les Mauvais anges to the present day, situating his work in the context of writers from Peyrefitte and Montherlant to Guibert, Dustan and Guyotat. The analysis concentrates on three main themes: boyhood and masculinity; sex and (homo)sexuality; and violence and death. Throughout, a number of questions are paramount. What is the connection between masculinity and violence? How does Jourdan reconcile joie de vivre with pain and punishment? Do his young male protagonists progress from bad boys to new men? In what ways can his texts be seen as homoerotic, homosexual, gay or queer? What, ultimately, is the connection between sex, sexuality and writing in Jourdan?
The book includes detailed bibliographies of Jourdan's works and, for the first time since its original, controversial publication in Arcadie, his short story 'Le Troisième but'.
List of contents
Contents: Éric Jourdan's writing career from Les Mauvais anges to present - Man Hunts: The 'Trilogy': Charité, Révolte, Sang - 'Jouissance' novels: L'Amour brut; Pour jamais; Saccage; Le Garçon de joie - 'Lost Boys': Aux gémonies; Sans lois ni dieux - New Men I: 'Sons and Lovers': Trois coeurs; Le Jeune soldat - New Men II: 'History Boys': Lieutenant Darmancour; 'Portrait d'un jeune seigneur en dieu des moissons' et autres nouvelles; Le Garçon et le diable - Masculinity, Sexuality and Violence in Jourdan.
About the author
Owen Heathcote is Honorary Visiting Reader in Modern French Studies at the University of Bradford. His research focuses on the relationship between violence, gender and representation in French literature and film. He is the author of Balzac and Violence: Representing History, Space, Sexuality and Death in 'La Comédie humaine' (2009) and he is currently working on the representation of violence in recent French women's writing.
Report
« Heathcote n'a pas simplement exhumé un auteur majeur de notre époque, mais permet désormais à la recherche universitaire d'explorer le dédale d'une oeuvre qui n'a pas encore livré tous ses secrets. » (Maxime Foerster, French Studies 68.3, 2014)
«Heathcote provides an unparalleled examination of Jourdan's entire literary oeuvre that serves as a reminder of what Jourdan brings to the understanding of contemporary French literature and Queer Studies.» (Modern Language Review 110.3, 2015)
