Of Stories and Men - discursive self-fashioning and the confessional narrative of love and self-hatred in Louis de Bernières'' A Partisan''s Daughter
2011
Abstract
Louis de Bernières is known especially for his international bestseller Captain Corellis Mandolin (1994) and the historical saga Birds Without Wings (2004). His most recent novel, A Partisans Daughter (2008), represents a strikingly different kind of writing, much more subtle and intimate and therefore seemingly less ambitious in terms of its plot construction and thematic structure.
The aim of this article is to demonstrate how, through the use of diverse narrative and stylistic techniques, namely that of the male mock-testimonial, de Bernières manages to explore, within the limited scope of the story, most of the thematic concerns of his previous works as well as adding several new ones.