Nominal Intersections: Pseudonimity and Generic Boundaries in Stendhal's Vie de Henry Brulard

The autobiographical referent, it is believed, is essentially different from the so-called fictional referent because autobiography relies on the verifiable identity of a unified writing subject "guaranteed" by the proper name. In this study, this restrictive notion of autobiographical identity is problematized by considering the pseudonym as the vehicle for positing the multiplicity and complexity of the "I." The pseudonym undermines the notion of a verifiable, authorial identity. It also serves as the means through which the son can deny the symbolic power of the father in attempting to stake his own (textual) ground and authority. (MM)