Reviewing Blindness in French Fiction, 1789¿2013

Hannah Thompson is Reader in French at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK. She is the author of the popular Blind Spot Blog.

This book argues that the most interesting depictions of blindness in French fiction are those which call into question and ultimately undermine the prevailing myths and stereotypes of blindness which dominate Western thought. Rather than seeing blindness as an affliction, a tragedy or even a fate worse than death, the authors examined in this study celebrate blindness for its own sake. For them it is a powerful artistic and creative force which offers new and surprising ways of describing, and relating to, reality. Canonical and lesser-known novels from a range of genres, including the roman noir, science fiction, auto-fiction and realism are analyzed in detail to show how the presence of blind characters invites the reader to abandon his or her traditional reliance on the sense of sight and engage with the world in sensual, and hitherto unexpected, ways. This book challenges everything we thought we knew about blindness and invites us to revel in the pleasures and perils of reading blind.

Introduction.- Chapter One: The French Metanarrative of Blindness.- Chapter Two: The Creative 'Look' of the Blind 'Seer'.- Chapter Three: Non-Visual Language and Descriptive Blindness.- Chapter Four: Male Desire and the Paradox of Blind Sexuality.- Chapter Five: Silenced Sexualities: Listening to the Voice of the Blind Woman.- Chapter Six: Blind Assassins.- Chapter Seven: Science, Fantasy and (In)Visible Blindness.- Conclusion.- Works Cited.- Index.-