Title Diplomacy and the modern novel : France, Britain, and the mission of literature / edited by Isabelle Daunais and Allan Hepburn

Published Toronto ; Buffalo : University of Toronto Press, [2020]

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Description 1 online resource (viii, 244 pages) : color illustrations Contents Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- The Mission of Literature: Modern Novels and Diplomacy -- Diplomacy Old and New -- Representation -- "J'observe!": The Example of Norpois -- Time and Speed -- Channel Crossings: Organization of Essays -- PART ONE: Diplomatic Experience -- 1 Making a Song and Dance of It: Staging Diplomacy in William Gerhardi's Early Novels -- Commedia delle Arte Diplomatiche -- Diplomatic Spectatorship: "Styles de la Valise," "Paysages de la Valise" -- Diplomatic Discord at the Concert of Nations -- Epilogue 2 The League of Nations As Seen by Albert Cohen: A User's Guide to Social Magic -- Civil Servants, Dilettantes, and Baboons -- A Frozen Language of Stereotypes -- The Valiants: Breathing New Life into the Language of Diplomacy -- 3 Modern Negotiations: Harold Nicolson's and Peacemaking 1919 and Public Faces -- Peacemaking 1919 -- Public Faces -- The League of Nations -- PART TWO: Novels and Diplomacy -- 4 "Diplomatic Dispatch Style": Towards a New Aesthetic of the Novel -- 5 Conrad's Politics of Idealism: Diplomacy without Diplomats -- Revolutionary Etymologies -- Fictions of Diplomacy Fiction as Diplomacy -- 6 André Gide and the Art of Evasion -- A Literary Ambassador -- The Inconsequence of Lafcadio -- Coda -- PART THREE: Documents -- 7 Proust's Epistolary Diplomacy: Antoine Bibesco, René Peter, and "Salaïsme" -- Diplomatic Manoeuvres -- Disguise, Collaboration, and the Interchange of Places -- Falsified Documents, Discrepant Genres -- 8 The Art of Conversation: Nancy Mitford, France, and Cultural Diplomacy -- Precedents -- The Fourth Republic -- Diplomacy à la française -- Leisurely Hours of Talk -- PART FOUR: Foreign Affairs 9 Action, Diplomacy, Art: André Malraux and Graham Greene -- André Malraux: The Anti-Diplomatic Diplomat -- Graham Greene: Honorary Consul, Honorary Quixote -- 10 Mythography and Diplomacy in Works by Ian Fleming and John le Carré -- Licence to Thrill -- Commander Ian Lancaster Fleming, RNVR -- James Bond, Public Servant -- Le Carré's Way: George Smiley as Anti-Bond -- 11 Lawrence Durrell: Diplomacy as Farce -- Diplomatic Humours -- Inadvertency -- Sauve Qui Peut! -- Works Cited -- Contributors -- Index Summary "Between 1900 and 1960, many writers in France and Britain either had parallel careers in diplomatic corps or frequented diplomatic circles: Paul Claudel, Albert Cohen, Lawrence Durrell, Graham Greene, John le Carré, André Malraux, Nancy Mitford, Marcel Proust, and others. What attracts writers to diplomacy, and what attracts diplomats to publishing their experiences in memoirs or novels? Like novelists, diplomats are in the habit of describing situations with an eye for atmosphere, personalities, and looming crises. Yet novels about diplomats, far from putting a solemn face on everything, often devolve into comedy if not outright farce. Anachronistic yet charming, diplomats take the long view of history and social transformation, which puts them out of step with their times--at least in fiction. In this collection of essays, eleven contributors reflect on diplomacy in French and British novels, with particular focus on temporality, style, comedy, characterization, and the professional liabilities attached to representing a state abroad. With archival examples as evidence, the essays in this volume indicate that modern fiction, especially fiction about diplomacy, is a response to the increasing speed of communication, the decline of imperial power, and the ceding of old ways of negotiating to new."-- Provided by publisher Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Issued also in print format Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on October 28, 2020) Subject French fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism English fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism Diplomacy in literature. LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 20th Century . Diplomacy in literature English fiction French fiction Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. Form Electronic book Author Daunais, Isabelle, editor. Hepburn, William Allan, editor. ISBN 9781487537548 1487537549 9781487537531 1487537530

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