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The Visual Journey of Manon Lescaut : Emblematic Tendencies and Artistic Innovation
Author(s) -
Ionescu Christina
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal for eighteenth‐century studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.129
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 1754-0208
pISSN - 1754-0194
DOI - 10.1111/1754-0208.12419
Subject(s) - interpretation (philosophy) , romance , creativity , focus (optics) , art , art history , sociology , humanities , literature , philosophy , psychology , linguistics , physics , optics , social psychology
The visual corpus of Manon Lescaut is a rich and complex ensemble. In this article I discuss five prevalent and distinct tendencies in the illustration of Prévost's novel, looking at iconographic series that are highly original and/or particularly intriguing in the interpretation they propose of this canonical text. I have chosen examples from five time periods (the Directory, the Romantic era, the Belle Epoque, the inter‐war years and the 1950s) and two geographic regions (France and America). I focus on book illustration as a receptacle for artistic creativity, a site for the reception of the text and a locus for strategic marketing.