Le Divorce | Literary Precedents

Le Divorce Literary Precedents

The transatlantic theme in France has a long and distinguished history, appearing in works by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, and William Dean Howells in the nineteenth century; Edith Wharton, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, and Janet Flanner in the early and mid twentieth century; James Jones, James Baldwin, and Norman Spinrad of the post- World War II era. Each has written at least one major work, some authors more, showing an American contending with French culture. Johnson has obviously read most of these books and drawn some thematic material from them. At the same time, her own approach in Le Divorce is different enough that it would take a doctoral dissertation, at least, to trace their influences on her own novel.

Readers seeking to make comparisons might try the following: Hawthorne's The Marble Faun (1860) for its early treatment of American puritanism vs. European indulgence; Henry...
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