Homecoming, You and Genre in “Mlle. Dias de Corta”

Jason Blake

doi:10.4312/an.55.1-2.89-101

Authors

Jason Blake University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Slovenia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4312/an.55.1-2.89-101

Keywords:

Mavis Gallant, genre, short story, you-narrative

Abstract

This paper focuses on style and aesthetic risk in a single Mavis Gallant story, “Mlle. Dias de Corta.” It considers the narrative trajectory in this story that is in letter form but is a letter that can never be received because the intended recipient’s whereabouts are unknown. In examining Gallant’s story, I consider the vast emotional terrain the narrator traverses, while also looking at generic considerations, you-narrative and the foundations on which the narrator’s apparently sudden change in character are based.

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