Ealy Publishes Peer-Reviewed Article

Nicholas Ealy, assistant professor of modern languages and cultures, A&S, has published the peer-reviewed article, "From Blood-on-Snow to Boys-on-Sand: Perceval's Mirror in Michel Tournier's The Ogre," in the journal Studies in the Novel.

The article examines the connection between the boys-on-sand incident of the award-winning French novel The Ogre, where Abel Tiffauges sees his three favorite boys dressed in red and performing maneuvers on white sand at a Nazi military school, and the blood-on-snow scene of Chretien de Troyes's medieval romance The Story of the Grail, where the red and white colors of the episode remind Perceval of his beloved Blancheflor. Ealy argues that the medieval tale serves as a source for the novel because it presents an idealized image of the beloved that functions as a mirror demanding active deliberation from the onlooker. In his reading, the youth of the boys-on-sand episode, by assuming the reflective qualities of Blancheflor's likeness, become the central image that directs Abel's search for fulfillment and meaning while simultaneously marking his ultimate deception and demise in Germany during World War II.

Studies in the Novel is a highly selective journal that publishes articles from a variety of critical perspectives on the novel in all periods.