The Romantic Hero and his Heirs in French Literature (American University Studies, Series II, Romance Languages and Literature, Vol. 10)

Our contemporary view of the romantic hero is blurred by infrequently examined assumptions. The purpose of Professor Bishop's book on The Romantic Hero and his Heirs is two-fold: to draw a precise and updated portrait of the original romantic hero in French literature and then to trace his legitimate heirs from the romantic period to the middle of the twentieth century - and beyond. By bringing together his own findings and those of other scholars he establishes the important fact of literary history that the romantic hero is the central hero of modern French literature. The book offers not only a detailed description and genealogy of a significant literary hero, it also provides a des- cription of the modern sensibility. This is an ambitious and convincing work of vast and precise erudition.