Freshly Printed - allow 7 days lead
Couldn't load pickup availability
A History of French Literature
From Chanson de geste to Cinema
David Coward (Edited by)
9781405117364, Wiley
Paperback / softback, published 4 October 2003
636 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 4.6 cm, 0.93 kg
"David Coward's new History is heroically comprehensive and shrewdly concise, generously accommodating in its definition of the subject, yet wisely discriminating in its detailed assessments. As the new millennium gets under way, it will surely be not only an essential guide but a lasting source of renewable pleasure for anyone interested in the literature and culture of France." Times Literary Supplement "In its breadth, depth, concision and sophistication of analysis, this book is an exceptional achievement. Neglecting neither Francophone nor gender-specific literature, this single-volume history of a thousand years of French writing and culture is a tour de force." Choice "Covering in varying depth everything down to modern gay, regional, and francophone writing, this approachable and clearly written book can be read front to back or a given strand can be followed through by moving through the headings classifying genres: theatre, poetry, etc." Modern Language Review "[...] Coward comes into his element, and provides an invaluable synthesis of where French is now and where it is going. A whole raft of mainstream and marginal writing is presented and evaluated, and it is here that those of us who teach French find ourselves pedagogically the most deeply in Coward's debt." The Times Higher Education Supplement "The concise discussion of structuralism, poststructuralism, postmodernism, and deconstruction will be of use to many students of literature." World Literature Today
This magnificent volume provides a complete history of the literature of France from its origins to the present day, taking us beyond traditional definitions of 'literature' into the world of the best-seller and, beyond words, to graphic fiction and cinema.
Preface xxii 1 THE MIDDLE AGES 1 Introduction 1 Hagiography 6 The chanson de geste 7 Lyric poetry to Rutebeuf 10 Romance 12 Comic realism 17 The literature of devotion, moral reflection and information 19 Learning and ideas 22 Theatre 23 Later lyric poetry 25 Fifteenth-century ‘modernism’ 26 Conclusion 30 2 THE RENAISSANCE 32 The Age of François I 32 The Generation of the Pléiade 50 Literature during the Wars of Religion 65 3 THE CLASSICAL AGE 79 Writers and Their Public 80 The Elaboration of the Classical Ideal 85 The Rise of Rationalism 90 Literature 96 The Crisis of Confidence 122 4 THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT 131 Introduction 131 Writers and Their Public 133 The Rise of the ‘Philosophic’ Spirit 138 The Social Programme of the Enlightenment 145 Literature 160 Literature and the Revolution (1789–99) 194 5 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 198 Introduction 198 Writers and Their Public 199 Movements and Schools 206 Literature 232 6 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 298 Writers and Their Public 299 From Literary Doctrine to Critical Theory 307 The Rise of the Intellectual 316 Literature 339 7 BEYOND IMAGINATION, GENDER AND THE MÉTROPOLE 410 Biography 411 Autobiography 412 Women’s Writing 417 Gay Writing 424 Francophone Writing 426 8 BEYOND ‘LITERATURE’ 446 The Best-seller 447 French Humorous Writing 467 Regional Literature 482 The Roman Policier 503 9 BEYOND WORDS 518 The Roman-photo: Graphic Fiction 519 La Bande Dessinée 523 The Cinema 533 Conclusion 558 Bibliography 560 Index 566
Subject Areas: Literature: history & criticism [DS]
