Type of Document	Undergraduate Thesis
Author	Boalick, Aaron R.
Author's Email Address	aaronbo@umich.edu
URN	etd-07142007-185516
Title	Bildung Blocks: Problematic Masculinities in Stendhal
Degree	Bachelor of Philosophy
Program	French
School	University Honors College
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Todd W. Reeser Committee Chair Giuseppina Mecchia Committee Member Nicholas Dobelbower Committee Member Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski Committee Member
Keywords	napoleon Julien Sorel The Red and the Black La Chartreuse de Parme napoleon and french masculinities nineteenth century french studies masculine performances Le Rouge et le Noir bildungsroman Lucien Leuwen gender studies The Charterhouse of Parma Fabrice del Dongo homosociality italian imaginary gender performativity masculine sexual politics bildungsroman and masculinity french masculinities
Date of Defense	2007-03-19
Availability	restricted
Abstract This study of Stendhal and the Bildungsroman extends theoretical work by John Smith that draws attention to the relationship between the idea of bildung as it is established by its critics and the construction of masculine identity in the male subject. Inflected by gender theory, my investigation does not attempt to contribute to genre studies, but rather to strengthen a theoretical approach to texts dealing with formation and coming-of-age narratives that exposes their rapport with gender socialization and normalization. I implement this approach to perform a reading of three of Stendhal’s major novels that ultimately intends to identify their dismantling of the Bildungsroman through their problematization of idealized French heteronormative masculinity. In order to accomplish this task, I first examine a classic work of scholarship on the Bildungsroman by Jerome Buckley, and I then move on to an analysis of more recent critical studies of bildung, all of which contribute to the establishment of a general idea of the outline of the genre while acknowledging its contradictions and instabilities. I examine parallels between the oscillating construction of the genre as a coherent type constantly under threat of collapsing into itself, and the tenuous formation of its protagonist as a uomo universale. Finally, I am concerned with questioning the Bildungsroman theorists’ conflicted yet confirmed incorporation of three of Stendhal’s novels into the genre, proving that, in fact, Stendhal rejects the idea of bildung. My new readings of these narratives incorporates important advances in gender theory by Judith Butler and Eve Sedgwick to demonstrate how Beyle refuses to construct idealized boy- iv becomes-man masculine fictions, even while creating narratives that are extremely similar in content to what are considered typical Bildungsromans. Stendhal challenges idealized masculinity itself in his representations of the young male protagonists in three of his major novels. I describe these works as non-Bildungsromans that problematize the goals of bildung’s supportive critics and their aspirations for the category that they struggle to construct.
Files	Filename       Size       Approximate Download Time (Hours:Minutes:Seconds)     28.8 Modem   56K Modem   ISDN (64 Kb)   ISDN (128 Kb)   Higher-speed Access  ETDBoalick_April2007.pdf 285.83 Kb 00:01:19 00:00:40 00:00:35 00:00:17 00:00:01 indicates that a file or directory is accessible from the University of Pittsburgh network only.

If you have questions or comments please send mail to ETD-Feedback.