French Literature

What's it about?

A collection of poems by the hugely influential surrealist poet, Guillaume Apollinaire.

Why do I want to read it?

Apollinaire was one of the forefathers of Surrealist poetry and revolutionised modern poetry. This collection of poems is considered some of his best work.

What's it about?

A collection of poems by the hugely influential surrealist poet, Guillaume Apollinaire.

Why do I want to read it?

Apollinaire was one of the forefathers of Surrealist poetry and revolutionised modern poetry. Calligrammes now defines a specific technique within Visual poetry.

What's it about?

When it was first published, Baudelaire's collection of poetry was highly controversial. It shocked the literary world of nineteenth century France with its outspoken portrayal of lesbian love, its linking of sexuality and death, its unremitting irony, and its unflinching celebration of the seamy side of urban life.

Why do I want to read it?

This is Baudelaire's most famous work and it has had a huge impact on the direction of modern French language in literature.

What's it about?

Capitale de la douleur is a book of poems by French surrealist poet Paul Éluard.

Why do I want to read it?

Éluard's poetry has often featured in pop culture, such as Jean-Luc Godard's film Alphaville.

What's it about?

Les chaises is an absurdist tragic farce play, centred around two characters frantically preparing chairs for a series of invisible guests to come hear the Old Man's discovery.

Why do I want to read it?

Eugène Ionesco was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre movement in the 20th century. His work laid the foundations for what is now known as the Theatre of the Absurd.

What's it about?

Poésies is an 1887 poetry collection by the French writer Stéphane Mallarmé.

Why do I want to read it?

Mallarmé was a French poet and critic who had a major impact on French symbolist poetry. His work also had influence in Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, and Surrealism.

What's it about?

This CD contains several of Prévert's classic poems.

Why do I want to read it?

Jacques Prévert was a French poet and screenwriters. His poems became and remain popular in the French-speaking world, particularly in schools. His best-regarded films formed part of the poetic realist movement, and include Les Enfants du Paradis (1945).

What's it about?

William Rees gives us an introduction to each poet, his or her life, affinities and aesthetics, and the significant literary movements. His fresh and beautiful prose translations will re-open many half-forgotten doors, and stimulate new enthusiasms.

Why do I want to read it?

Expand your reading.

What's it about?

This book brings together Rimbaud's poetry, prose, and letters, including "The Drunken Boat", "The Orphans' New Year", "After the Flood", and "A Season in Hell", considered by many to be his best.

Why do I want to read it?

Arthur Rimbaud is remembered as much for his volatile personality and tumultuous life as he is for his writings, most of which he produced before the age of eighteen.

What's it about?

A collection of poems written by the iconic poet of 19th Century France, Paul Verlaine.

Why do I want to read it?

Verlaine was associated with the Symbolist and Decadent movements. He is considered one of the greatest poets of his age, just before the turn of the century.

What's it about?

In L'autre qu'on adorait, Catherine Cusset recounts the life of her friend Thomas - a brilliant academic - whose slow descent leads him to suicide. A declaration of love and friendship.

Why do I want to read it?

Cusset was a finalist for the Prix Goncourt for this book.

What's it about?

Paris, January 7, 2015. Two terrorists who claim allegiance to ISIS attack the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. The event causes untold pain to the victims and their families, prompts a global solidarity movement, and ignites a fierce debate over press freedoms and the role of satire today. Philippe Lançon, a journalist, author, and a weekly contributor to Charlie Hebdo is gravely wounded in the attack.

Why do I want to read it?

Disturbance is a book about survival, resilience, and reconstruction, about transformation, about one man’s shifting relationship to time, to writing and journalism, to truth, and to his own body.

What's it about?

Méliane writes of her upbringing and political activism. Born to immigrant parents, she describes her participation in the SOS Racisme association. She's also been involved in radical Feminst movements such as Femen.

Why do I want to read it?

Loubna Méliane is a French political activist, Feminist and radio host.

What's it about?

Battling the recent conviction of her father and the death of her mother, Laurence Tardieu's autobiographical retelling of this period is powerful and profoundly sensitive. It considers themes of relationships, grief, and humanity.

Why do I want to read it?

Tardieu is a critically-acclaimed author and writes deeply emotive books.

What's it about?

When Meaulnes first arrives at the local school in Sologne, everyone is captivated by his good looks, daring and charisma. But when Meaulnes disappears for several days, and returns with tales of a strange party at a mysterious house - and his love for the beautiful girl hidden within it, Yvonne de Galais - his life has been changed forever.

Why do I want to read it?

This is an abridged version of Alain-Fournier's only novel and is semi-autobiographical. It has been adapted twice, is considered a classic of French literature and is thought to have inspired F.Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Alain-Fournier died in combat in the first month of World War I.

What's it about?

When the narrator's estranged father dies, it brings forward the memories and trauma of a childhood she tried to forget.

Why do I want to read it?

Nelly Alard, a French actress, screenwriter and novelist, won the Prix Roger Nimier award in 2010 for this novel.

What's it about?

We are in the center of Paris, in an elegant apartment building inhabited by bourgeois families. Renée, the concierge, is witness to the lavish but vacuous lives of her numerous employers. Outwardly she conforms to every stereotype of the concierge: overweight, cantankerous, addicted to television. Yet, unbeknownst to her employers, Renée is a cultured autodidact who adores art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture. With humor and intelligence she scrutinizes the lives of the building's tenants, who for their part are barely aware of her existence.

Why do I want to read it?

This book is full of allusions to literary works, music, films, and paintings. It incorporates themes relating to philosophy, class consciousness, and personal conflict and has been translated into more than 40 languages.

What's it about?

Le grand secret tells the story of a conspiracy between world leaders that aims to hide the existence of a contagious virus which makes humans immortal.

Why do I want to read it?

René Barjavel is considered one of the best science-fiction writers in France. The themes of his books revolve around science, questions about religion, as well as the future.

What's it about?

This book covers French literature from its beginnings to the present day.

Why do I want to read it?

With equal attention to all genres, historical periods and registers, this is the most comprehensive guide to literature written in French ever produced in English, and the first in decades to offer such an array of topics and perspectives.

What's it about?

Michel Butor describes the observations, recollections, thoughts, and fears of Leon Delmont during a twenty-two-hour train ride between Paris and Rome. For several years, Leon has traveled regularly in the first-class section in order to attend meetings at the Rome headquarters of Scabelli, the Italian typewriter company whose Paris office he directs.

Why do I want to read it?

The novel won the Prix Renaudot in 1957 and considers themes of time, travel and memory.

What's it about?

Young Michel is in love with the attractive Madeleine , so he decides to tell his parents of his intention to marry her. He thinks his announcement is innocent enough; his engagement, however, threatens to reveal dark secrets lurking within his family's home.

Why do I want to read it?

Jean Cocteau was one of the foremost creatives of the surrealist, avant-garde, and Dadaist movement, and one of the most influential figures in early 20th-century arts as a whole.

What's it about?

This popular book contains eight pieces of contemporary fiction in the original French and in English translations.

Why do I want to read it?

Gives a fascinating insight into French culture and literature as well as providing an invaluable educational tool.

What's it about?

Le Silence de la mer is a French novel written during the summer of 1941 and published in early 1942 by Jean Bruller under the pseudonym "Vercors". In the book, Vercors tells of how an old man and his niece show resistance against the German occupiers by not speaking to the officer who is occupying their house. The German officer is a former composer, dreaming of brotherhood between the French and German nations, deluded by the Nazi propaganda of that period. He is disillusioned when he realizes the real goal of the German army is not to build but to ruin and to exploit.

Why do I want to read it?

Published secretly in German-occupied Paris, the book quickly became a symbol of mental resistance against German occupiers.

What's it about?

Exploring mother-daughter relationships over the course of three generations, Cusset's tragicomic family saga spares the reader no detail - the wedding night of the parents, the mother's issues related to digestion, or the grandmother's agony at the hospital. The novel questions the gaze of the narrator, Marie, who is the judge of her mother.

Why do I want to read it?

Cusset is a best-selling French novelist whose work has been translated into 22 languages. She's also a Prix Femina winner.

What's it about?

Marie, the narrator of La Haine de la famille, recounts here the relationship she had with religion during her childhood and youth, between a believing father and an atheist mother. It evokes the birth of desire through successive passions, and the discovery of love, experienced first as a crucifixion, then as a redemption.

Why do I want to read it?

Cusset is a best-selling French novelist whose work has been translated into 22 languages. She's also a Prix Femina winner.

What's it about?

Solange is thirty-something, a mediocre actress, and not a great mother. In Hollywood she falls for a charismatic actor, Kouhouesso, who wants to direct a movie of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness—in Africa.

Solange follows her man to Africa, determined to play a main role in both his film and his affections. But nothing goes to plan in this witty examination of romance, movie-making and clichés about race relations. After all, there's no guarantee you'll be loved by the one you love.

Why do I want to read it?

This book won the Prix Médicis and the Prix des Prix in 2013.

What's it about?

This collection of three long stories depicts the plight of urban Algerian women who have thrown off the shackles of colonialism only to face a postcolonial regime that denies and subjugates them even as it celebrates the liberation of men.

Why do I want to read it?

Djebar is considered to be one of North Africa's pre-eminent and most influential writers, and was the first writer from this region to be elected to the Académie française in 2005.

What's it about?

When eight-year-old Tistou is sent home from school his parents decide he shall learn from real life instead, and where better to start than gardening? With Moustache the dreamy gardener, Tistou discovers a remarkable gift - that he has green thumbs! Everything he touches sprouts beautiful plants. Now Tistou has lots to do. With the power of flowers he can change everything: prisons, slums, hospitals - even war.

Why do I want to read it?

The sweet, innocence of Tistou contrasts with some of the more serious subject matter.

What's it about?

The novel is based around the relationship of an Algerian automobile worker and a white French woman in the 1950s. It also deals with the issues that those of less privilege face such as poverty, exploitation, and social marginalization.

Why do I want to read it?

Etcherelli won the Prix Femina for this book in 1967. Since then, the novel has gained a cult following and was adapted into a film in 1970.

What's it about?

This follows the story of a group of friends who decide to hide the death of one member's mother, so that he won't get taken away by social services.

Why do I want to read it?

This story was based on the 1990 film of the same name and considers themes of friendship, grief and youth.

What's it about?

Jean Giono wrote short essays, prefaces and articles from the 1950s to the 1960s. These are brought together in this collection of essays, showing a real side of Provence, the character of the people and not just the landscape, all of which shows an alternative side to what may be expected.

Why do I want to read it?

Jean Giono was a French author whose work of fiction was set almost entirely in Provence. He was elected to the Académie Goncourt in 1954.

What's it about?

Who took advantage of the snow to scatter a string of corpses? In this village of Dauphiné, the arrival of spring throws away its secrets and its dead: after three victims were discovered, a specialist was called, Commander Langlois, who will quickly discover the truth. But can he survive it?

Strange characters fill this story; a strange novel, which takes on the theatre of the absurd, the secular tale and the parable.

Why do I want to read it?

In this three act drama, Giono inaugurated a very dark romantic series, centered on the analysis of evil and human misery, a far cry from the Provençal cycle of Regain. --Karla Manuele

What's it about?

A retelling of the story behind Japanese artist Hokusai's engraving and book 'The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife'.

Why do I want to read it?

An interesting look into expressions of sexuality and the absurd.

What's it about?

Patrick Grainville writes of obsessive love, eroticism and desire.

Why do I want to read it?

Grainville's work is wonderfully unique and absurd.

What's it about?

Growing up in postwar Paris as the sickly only child of glamorous athletic parents, the narrator invents for himself a make-believe older brother, stronger and more brilliant than he can ever be. It is only when the boy begins talking to an old family friend that he comes to realize that his imaginary sibling had a real predecessor: a half brother whose death in the concentration camps is part of a buried family secret that he was intended never to uncover.

Why do I want to read it?

A colossal bestseller in Europe, Un secret is the story of a family haunted by the secret of their past: an illicit love affair, a lost child, and a devastating betrayal dating back to the Second World War. It became a runaway bestseller in France with more than 180,000 copies sold, winning both the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens and the Prix Wizo for the best work of Jewish interest in French literature. It is part-memoir, part-fiction.

What's it about?

The Paradise projects are only a few metro stops from Paris, but here it's a whole different kind of France. Doria's father, the Beard, has headed back to their hometown in Morocco, leaving her and her mom to cope with their mektoub—their destiny—alone. They have a little help-- from a social worker sent by the city, a psychiatrist sent by the school, and a thug friend who recites Rimbaud.

It seems like fate’s dealt them an impossible hand, but Doria might still make a new life. She'll prove the projects aren't only about rap, soccer, and religious tension. She’ll take the Arabic word kif-kif (same old, same old) and mix it up with the French verb kiffer (to really like something). Now she has a whole new motto: KIFFE KIFFE DEMAIN.

Why do I want to read it?

Faïza Guène, the child of Algerian immigrants, grew up in the public housing projects of Pantin, outside Paris and these experiences are echoed in this book. Kiffe Kiffe Demain has been translated into 26 different languages.

What's it about?

During the German Occupation, a child sees refugees passing through the family castle that his father helps to escape deportation. Things go wrong when the Free Zone is occupied, and the house has to accommodate German soldiers.

Why do I want to read it?

Philippe Labro is an author, journalist and film director who is a laureate of the Prix Interallié.

What's it about?

Our narrator, Camille, loves men. One might say she’s obsessed with them. The latest object of her affection is a psychiatrist, and what better way to seduce a psychiatrist than by laying bare the intricacies of her own mind? Camille becomes his patient, and slowly unveils her romantic, sexual, and psychological secrets by telling the story of her life through the men she has known: father, teacher, lover, letch; husband, brother, boss, and friend.

Why do I want to read it?

An international bestseller translated into twelve languages and the winner of France’s prestigious Prix Femina.

What's it about?

A collection of stories and essays that look at love, relationships and sexuality.

Why do I want to read it?

Camille Laurens first published novel. She has won the Prix Femina and is a member of the Académie Goncourt.

What's it about?

Winner of the Prix Goncourt, Giles Leroy explores the turbulent marriage of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald from the latter's perspective.

Why do I want to read it?

The Prix Goncourt is the most prestigious French literary prize.

What's it about?

Arranged in approximate order of difficulty, the range of stories is wide, from the stylized wit of Raymond Queneau to the beautifully written ambiguities of Philippe Sollers, from Pierre Gascar’s exploration of childhood as a background to a tale of infidelity to Henri Thomas’s gentle, ironic look at war. All make wonderful reads in either language.

Why do I want to read it?

The eight short stories in this collection are accompanied by parallel English translations to help you gain deeper insights into French literature and life.

What's it about?

Michel is ten years old, living in Pointe Noire, Congo, in the 1970s. While news comes over the radio of the American hostage crisis in Tehran, the death of the Shah, the scandal of the Boukassa diamonds, Michel struggles with the demands of his twelve year old girlfriend Caroline, who threatens to leave him for a bully in the football team. But most worrying for Michel, the witch doctor has told his mother that he has hidden the key to her womb, and must return it before she can have another child. Somehow he must find it.

Why do I want to read it?

A humorous and poignant account of an African childhood, drawn from Alain Mabanckou's life.

What's it about?

Le Garçon is an expansive and entrancing historical novel that follows a nearly feral child from the French countryside as he joins society and plunges into the torrid events of the first half of the 20th century.

Why do I want to read it?

Beginning in 1908 and spanning three decades, it is as an emotionally and historically rich exploration of family, passion, and war from one of France’s most acclaimed and bestselling authors. The book won the prestigious Prix Femina award in 2016.

What's it about?

Based on a true story, Le Sillon looks at the story of Hrant Dink, a Turkish journalist and writer of Armenian origins, who was murdered for defending an ideal of peace.

Why do I want to read it?

Manteau won the Prix Renaudot in 2018 for this book.

What's it about?

A commentary on aesthetics within literature.

Why do I want to read it?

Stéphane Mellarmé was a major French symbolist poet and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of the early 20th century, such as Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, and Surrealism.

What's it about?

Âme brisée is a parable of immense beauty and ferocious courage, centered around a violin whose soul has been broken by the infuriated pride of a world in the verge of destruction. The violin represents the human soul.

Why do I want to read it?

Akira Mizubayashi was born in Tokyo and began to study French at 18. He now writes almost exclusively in French. This inspiring author considers themes of identity, culture, and love.

What's it about?

On the first Tuesday of every month, Clarisse Rivière leaves her husband and young daughter and secretly takes the train to Bordeaux to visit her mother, Ladivine.

After more than twenty-five years of this deception, the idyllic middle-class existence Clarisse has built from scratch can no longer survive inside the walls she’s put up to protect it.

Why do I want to read it?

A mesmerizing and heart-stopping psychological tale of a trauma that ensnares three generations of women, Ladivine proves Marie NDiaye to be one of Europe’s great storytellers.

What's it about?

The first part, "Tempête en juin," opens in the chaos of the massive 1940 exodus from Paris on the eve of the Nazi invasion during which several families and individuals are thrown together under circumstances beyond their control. In the second part, "Dolce," we enter the increasingly complex life of a German-occupied provincial village.

Why do I want to read it?

The first two stories of a masterwork once thought lost, written by a pre-WWII bestselling author who was deported to Auschwitz and died before her work could be completed.

What's it about?

Seventeen contemporary French writers are represented in this anthology. Among them: Zola, Gide, Proust, Malraux, Mauriac, Sartre, and Camus.

Why do I want to read it?

A great book with complete vocabulary; footnotes explaining obscurities, allusions, and idioms; and introductions of each author.

What's it about?

During the Nazi occupation of France, two brothers found themselves at the mercy of a German guard following an explosive act of resistance. Thrown into a deep pit with a small group of terrified prisoners, the men are told that one of them will die by dawn to serve as an example for the others. It's up to the prisoners to propose who will be sacrificed. But in the middle of the night, the guard returns with an extraordinary proposition of his own.

Why do I want to read it?

A "bittersweet exercise in humanism" which broaches topics of resistance, solidarity, and sacrifice.

What's it about?

La Jalousie tells the story of a jealous husband whose suspicion of his wife and neighbors takes possession of his mind.

Why do I want to read it?

Alain Robbe-Grillet was one of the leading figures of the Nouveau Roman movement in the 1960s and was elected to the Académie française in 2004.

What's it about?

The story follows a young prince who visits various planets in space, including Earth, and addresses themes of loneliness, friendship, love, and loss.

Why do I want to read it?

Despite its style as a children's book, Le Petit Prince makes observations about life, adults and human nature. Selling an estimated 140 million copies worldwide, Le Petit Prince is one of the best-selling and most translated books ever published. It has been translated into 301 languages and dialects, and adapted into numerous art forms.

What's it about?

Lydie Salvayre looks into the most influential female writers of 19th and 20th centuries literature. For each of these women, she paints a poignant portrait while not omitting the context in which they lived, wrote, loved and suffered. Between madness, love, shame and despair, these women, have made a path and have succeeded in leaving an everlasting imprint in world literature.

Why do I want to read it?

Lydie Salvayre is a Prix Goncourt winner. This book gives an excellent look into some of the most influential female writers of the 19th and 20th centuries.

What's it about?

A young writer has his heart set on his aunt's large apartment. With this seemingly simple conceit, the characters of Le planétarium are set in orbit and a galaxy of argument, resentment, and bitterness erupts. Telling the story from various points of view, Sarraute focuses below the surface, on the emotional lives of the characters. Le planétarium reveals the deep disparity between the way we see ourselves and the way others see us.

Why do I want to read it?

Sarraute, along with writers like Marguerite Duras, was one of the leading figures of the nouveau roman literary movement that rose to prominence in the 1950s/60s. Using different perspectives and narratives is one of her signature literary devices.

What's it about?

All it took was a simple letter from Geneviève for Vincent to jump in his car and rush to the other side of the country to he one he loved. They have been separated for fifteen years. Genevieve is dying and wants to see Vincent again before it's too late. Vincent did not think before joining her, but as he travels the long distance, thoughts return to the time of their love. A love that did not resist the disappearance of their little daughter, Clara, who was probably abducted, at the end of school. For the last fifteen years, Vincent has buried this painful past, and he has done everything he can to to forget the tragedy, but he knows that he will have to confront it by finding Genevieve.

Why do I want to read it?

Tardieu is a critically-acclaimed author and writes deeply emotive books.

What's it about?

An adventurous geology professor chances upon a manuscript in which a 16th-century explorer claims to have found a route to the earth's core. Professor Lidenbrock can't resist the opportunity to investigate, and with his nephew Axel, he sets off across Iceland in the company of Hans Bjelke, a native guide. The expedition descends into an extinct volcano toward a sunless sea, where they encounter a subterranean world of luminous rocks, antediluvian forests, and fantastic marine life — a living past that holds the secrets to the origins of human existence.

Why do I want to read it?

Jules Verne was a bestselling French adventure novelist, most well know for novels such as this one (Journey to the Center of the Earth) and Around the World in Eighty Days. He has been the second most-translated author in the world since 1979 and has sometimes been referred to as the "father of science fiction".

What's it about?

An adventurous geology professor chances upon a manuscript in which a 16th-century explorer claims to have found a route to the earth's core. Professor Lidenbrock can't resist the opportunity to investigate, and with his nephew Axel, he sets off across Iceland in the company of Hans Bjelke, a native guide. The expedition descends into an extinct volcano toward a sunless sea, where they encounter a subterranean world of luminous rocks, antediluvian forests, and fantastic marine life — a living past that holds the secrets to the origins of human existence.

Why do I want to read it?

Jules Verne was a bestselling French adventure novelist, most well know for novels such as this one (Journey to the Center of the Earth) and Around the World in Eighty Days. He has been the second most-translated author in the world since 1979 and has sometimes been referred to as the "father of science fiction".

What's it about?

Parisian teenager Lou has an IQ of 160, OCD tendencies, and a mother who has suffered from depression for years. But Lou is about to change her life—and that of her parents—all because of a school project about homeless teens. Whilst doing research, Lou meets No, a teenage girl living on the streets. As their friendship grows, Lou bravely asks her parents if No can live with them, and is astonished when they agree. No's presence forces Lou's family to come to terms with a secret tragedy. But can this shaky, newfound family continue to live together when No's own past comes back to haunt her?

Why do I want to read it?

Winner of the prestigious Booksellers' Prize in France, No et moi is a timely and thought-provoking novel about homelessness.

What's it about?

Winner of the 2017 Prix Goncourt Eric Vuillard's gripping novel L'ordre du jour tells the story of the pivotal meetings which took place between the European powers in the run-up to World War Two. What emerges is a fascinating and incredibly moving account of failed diplomacy, broken relationships, and the catastrophic momentum which led to conflict.

Why do I want to read it?

Suffused with dramatic tension, this unforgettable novel tells the tragic story of how the actions of a few powerful men brought the world to the brink of war.

What's it about?

France's most enduring wartime novel introduces Vercors' famous tale to a generation without personal experience of World War II.

Why do I want to read it?

Published secretly in German-occupied Paris, the book quickly became a symbol of mental resistance against German occupiers.

What's it about?

Night after night, a very disturbed man protects himself by evoking his past – so many travels, so many romantic encounters that remain haunting. His memory makes him dizzy. Will her memories help him get better? He invents a series of doubles who lead a sentimental life just as turbulent as his. He would like to go visit his mother. She lives alone in Provence and will soon be ninety years old. First he has a job to finish. His mother told him: "Instead of sending faxes to your dozen lovers, you should publish a book, otherwise people will believe that you are dead."

Why do I want to read it?

François Weyergans mixes depth and humor, emotion and laughter, in this novel which strongly affirms the powers of literature.

What's it about?

Summary and commentary of the novel Thérèse Desqueyroux by François Mauriac.

Why do I want to read it?

Helpful in aiding your understanding the work of the laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1952, François Mauriac.

What's it about?

Pour un nouveau roman re-evaluates the techniques, ethos, and limits of contemporary fiction. This is a work of immense importance for any discussions of the history of the novel, and for contemporary thinking about the future of fiction.

Why do I want to read it?

Alain Robbe-Grillet, one of the leaders of the new French literary movement of the sixties, has long been regarded as the outstanding writer of the nouveau roman, as well as its major spokesman.