This 1986 study of Manon Lescaut draws on various debates in the fields
of psychoanalysis, feminism and literary criticism. It has two principal
aims: to analyse this story of a young man's passion for a femme fatale
as it is presented by the narrator; and to suggest ways in which
feminist criticism can help explain how the text operates. The volume is
in three parts. In Part I, Dr Segal offers a close reading of Manon
Lescaut in which the narrator's relationship with language is the key
issue. Part II considers four central themes which are present in the
text's language and structure: money, the image of the woman, the
concept of the double, and fatality. In the final part the author
presents a feminist critique of Freud and Lacan, and develops thereby a
fascinating version of the Oedipus Complex which is brought to bear on
Manon Lescaut.