In his collection of stories, “The Human Comedy”, the French 19th-century writer Honoré de Balzac turned the shaming of single women into an art.
Academic rigour, journalistic flair
Articles on French literature
Displaying 1 - 20 of 33 articles
Mysteries from China, short stories from the Balkans, a French-Morrocan autobiography and more.
French has historically been a language of human rights. That’s why the Québec government should promote it as a tool of a human rights-based civic education, not force it on newcomers.
From electricity to X-rays, the Doppler Effect and even quantum theory, Proust’s writing is littered with physics references.
Annie Ernaux is the first French woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Her autofiction masterpiece, The Years, has been called a modern In Search of Lost Time.
The French writer has won the Nobel for literature for her ascetic approach to writing and fearlessness in covering the personal and taboo.
There was a real man behind the swashbuckling hero who was as deft at sparring with his pen and sword as Rostand’s hero.
He is the first writer from sub-Saharan Africa to lift the Prix Goncourt, one of the book world’s most important prizes. And his win matters.
A story about male violence and a damsel in distress, it is based on a true crime
The French-Senegalese author’s novel At Night All Blood is Black is a harrowing and politically profound story of a Senegalese soldier fighting for the French in the first World War.
Samuel Beckett’s first play was once most notorious for the audible yawns, walkouts (and fights) during interval. But it is a play of great insight into the condition of waiting.
The first French novelist wrote about an adulterous affair and moved to Paris after separating from her husband.
On house arrest, Xavier de Maistre took a journey around his room where he discovered there was much to wonder at.
A french classic has had a thoroughly modern update, meditating on themes of class, race and colonialism.
Created by a prolific French author, Inspector Jules Maigret observes without judgement and moves like a chameleon between social classes.
For a handful of French writers, the best fiction they wrote was their life story.
Is a 19th-century French author’s cosmic joke turning into a real-life global nightmare?
His legacy connects a great swathe of modern popular culture.
The fire that devastated the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral on April 15 is a historic event that reminds us of the symbolic power of national monuments.
From the Archives: Ernaux’s English translation, Happening, has come to be seen as one of the great pieces of writing about abortion.
Top contributors
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Assistant Professor, American University of Paris (AUP)
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A.R. Chisholm Professor of French, The University of Melbourne
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Professor of French and Comparative Literature, Queen Mary University of London
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Senior Lecturer in French, University of Surrey
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Senior Research Fellow in the Institute for Collaborative Research in the Humanities, Queen's University Belfast
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Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature, University of Oxford
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Assistant Professor of French, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
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Professor of Creative Writing, University of Technology Sydney
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Visiting Researcher in Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, Cardiff University
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Impact Officer, University of Derby
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Senior Lecturer, School of Modern Languages, University of St Andrews
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Lecturer in French Studies, University of Sheffield
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Professor, University of Sydney
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Senior research associate, University of Cambridge
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Lecturer, Department of French, University of Cambridge
