Sophie's Choice

Sophie's Choice has met a tremendous success since publication in 1979 and has
been translated in many languages, including Japanese and Russian; it has been
made into a movie by Alan Pakula, with Meryl Streep in the unforgettable
leading role, and even gave birth to an opera. As usual William Styron gets
down to brass tacks with one of the most awe-inspiring themes of the twentieth
century : the final solution and the horror of the death-camps. In this
bilingual study the emphasis is laid on the complexity of the narrative
technique, the link between sexuality and violence, and the entanglement of
historical, religious, philosophical and psychoanalytical references that make
up the fabric of personal drama and human tragedy that Sophie's Choice
represents.

Patrick BADONNEL is a full professor of American literature at the Sorbonne
Nouvelle University (Paris III) and former chair of the Agrégation. He is the
author of several books on American contemporary writers (with C. Maisonnat)
and has already published a book and several papers on William Styron's work.
Also interested in the contemporary short story he is the author (with C.
Maisonnat) of La Nouvelle Anglo-saxonne. Initiation à une lecture
psychanalytique (Hachette Supérieur, 1998).

Cet ouvrage est le fruit de la collaboration entre les éditions Armand Colin
et le Centre National d'Enseignement à Distance, établissement public
d'enseignement qui dispense des formations de tous niveaux à plus de 350 000
inscrits répartis dans le monde entier.

Cette contribution scientifique d'enseignants chercheurs de l'Université
française s'intègre dans les préparations assurées par le CNED aux CAPES et
aux agrégations d'anglais qui comprennent aussi des conseils méthodologiques
et des entraînements aux épreuves des concours avec correction personnalisée.


General context and historical background. Narrative strategies at work in
Sophie's Choice. The aesthetics of perversion and the European axis of evil in
Sophie's Choice. Sexuality, textuality and liquidity. La confrontation
pathologique des désirs. Totalitarisme et schizophrénie. Théologie et
téléologie dans Sophie's Choice. Éthique et esthétique du texte.