An introduction to twentieth-century French literature / Victoria Best.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Best, Victoria, 1969-

Series:

New readings

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

French literature--20th century--History and criticism.

French literature.

Physical Description:

159 pages ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

London : Duckworth, 2002.

Summary:

In this accessible guide, Victoria Best explores the turbulent twentieth century in France through its literature, introducing the works that created fresh perspectives on the human condition in an age of rapid change and insecurity. Challenging and experimental, modern French writing reflects the problems of a culture transformed by sophisticated theoretical inquiry and violent historical events. Preoccupied with finding ways to express new extremes of experience, twentieth-century texts dramatise the realisation that stories provide a significant means of making sense of the world. The book provides an overview of the key literary movements and the major writers of prose, poetry and drama, from great novelists such as Proust, to great thinkers like Sartre, by way of controversial figures such as Genet, Beckett and Marguerite Duras.

Contents:

Introduction: Writing and Life 7

1 First-Person Narratives: The Voice of No Authority 17

2 Modern Poetry: The Witchcraft of Words 36

3 Existentialism: The Impossible Ideal of Ethics 59

4 Experiments in Form: The Art of Losing the Plot 82

5 Women's Writing: Imagination in Power 101

6 Trauma, Myth and Memory: Making History Personal 122.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0715631667

OCLC:

49238987