Conrad, Faulkner, and the Problem of NonSense is a novel contribution to the field of literary studies, which so far has not really taken to a Lacanian approach. Introducing a new approach with clarity, the book offers its readers an original methodology to tackle a literary text that is most welcome today. What is remarkable is that Ebileeni makes his ... Read morepoints with clarity and simplicity, while at the same time refusing to give up on a firm methodology based on state-of-the-art theoretical considerations.
Claude Maisonnat, Emeritus Professor of Contemporary Literature, Universite Lumiere Lyon 2, France
In Conrad, Faulkner, and the Problem of NonSense, Maurice Ebileeni has written a sophisticated and original analysis of the ineffable, of what language is incapable of expressing directly, in several important works by Joseph Conrad and William Faulkner. Conrad was Faulkner's great mentor, and Ebileeni explores the surprising parallels among their themes and techniques. The theoretical foundations of the book - primarily Lacanian - are introduced with unusual clarity. Full of original insights for readers of Conrad and Faulkner, Conrad, Faulkner, and the Problem of NonSense is an intellectual treat, an appealing debut for an important young scholar.
Richard Ruppel, Professor of English, Chapman University, USA
This insightful book is the strongest Lacanian account we have of the connection between two of the most consequential world novelists of the past century. In a series of sensitive readings of Conrad's and Faulkner's major novels, Ebeleeni tells the story of the invention of 'nonsense'-the excess of reality and experience over contemporary capacities of convention and expression-as a modern art form, and the epic struggles of Conrad to 'endure' and Faulkner to 'prevail' over the implications of a world whose greatest concerns may lie in those realms beyond conventionalized 'sense.' An important and stimulating contribution.
Peter Lancelot Mallios, Associate Professor of English and American Studies, University of Maryland, USA
Ebileeni's study is a welcome contribution to the critical corpus. Owing to its methodological patience and clarity of conceptualization, the book provides an introduction to Lacanian concepts in a language that is free of jargon and performativity. This is an informed and original work that, by staging a return to some of the commonplaces of Conrad and Faulkner criticism through a Lacanian interpretative frame, reconfigures and defamiliarizes the way we read their major works.
Yael Levin
Partial Answers: Journal of Literature and the History of Ideas
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