To handle the sizeableness of a subject, the French literature article has been divided into a series of separate historical articles navigable through the guide to the perfect. Of these can likewise directly access French literature category indexes, like alphabetical lists of authors or even titles. The general introduction & occasionally more or even general poop come involved on this document.

For info all about French art, view: French art. For historical background in France, look at: History of France. For more topics in French culture, watch: French culture.

French literature
A French language is a romance dialect derived from Vulgar Latin and heavily influenced mainly by Celtic and Frankish. Beginning in the 11th century, literature written within mediaeval French was one of the oldest vulgar (non-Latin) literatures in american Europe & it became a key source of literary themes in the Middle Ages across the continent.

Although a European prominence of French literature was eclipsed inside section by common literature inside Italy in the 14th century, literature in France in the 16th century underwent a major originative evolution, & through the political & artistic software online of the Ancien Régime, French literature came to dominate European letters in the 17th century.

In the 18th century, French became the literary lingua franca & diplomatic language of western Europe (&, to a certaaround degree, in United states of americthe), & French letters will have a profound impact in 100% European & U.s. literary traditions when at the equivalent period existence heavy influenced by these more national traditions (for instance: British and German Romanticism in the nineteenth century). French literary developments of the 19th and 20th centuries have had the particularly hard outcome in modern globe literature, including: symbolism, naturalism, the "roman-fleuves" of Balzac, Zola and Proust, surrealism, existentialism, and a "theater of the absurd".

French imperialism and colonialism in a Americas, Africa & a far East keep around brought the French language to non-European cultures that come now utilizing, transforming, and adding to the French literary own experience.

Under a aristocratical ideals of a ancien régime (the "honnête homme"), the nationalistic spirit of post-todays France, & a mass training ideals of a Third Republic & modern France, the French keep around are to keep around -- as a culture -- a profound attachment to their literary heritage. Now, French schooling emphasizes researching novels, theater & poetry (typically learnt by memory); a literary arts come heavy sponsored per state; literary prizes come major news; a Académie française and the Institut de France are important linguistic & artistic institutions around France; French televisiaround features shows on writers & poets (a virtually all watched indicate in French history was Apostrophes, a each week chat show in literature & a arts)... Inside direct contrast to lot of the Western literary environment, literature is something which matters deeply to the population of France & which plays an crucial role in their have feel of identity.

Literatures of other languages of France

Besides literature written around a French language, the literary culture of France could include literature written in more languages of France. In the mediaeval time numerous of the competing standard languages in various territories that later come to produce higher a territory of modern France every produced literary traditions, like Anglo-Norman literature and Provençal literature.

Literature in the regional languages continued through to the 18th century, although increasing eclipsed per rise of the French language & influenced per prevailing French literary model. Conscious language revival movements in the 19th century, such as Félibrige in Provence, coupled with wider literacy & regional presses, enabled the recently flowering of literary production in the Norman language and others.

Frédéric Mistral, a poet in the Provençal language (1830-1914), was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1904.

Breton literature since the 1920s has been lively, despite the falling total of speakers. Within 1925, Roparz Hemon founded the periodic Gwalarn which for Xix years tried to raise a language to the level of more groovy "international" languages by creating original works covering completely genres & by proposing Breton translations of internationally recognized foreign works. Inside 1946, Al Liamm took up a role of Gwalam. More reviews inherit being & gave Breton the fairly big body of literature for the minority language. Among writers inside Breton come Yann-Ber Kalloc'h, Anjela Duval and Per-Jakez Hélias.

Picard literature maintains a level of literary output, especially within theatrical writing. Walloon literature is bolstered by the other important literary production within the language in Belgium.

Catalan literature and literature in the Basque language also benefit from either a being of a readership outside the borders of France.

Selected list of French literary classics

Marcel Proust - "A la recherche du temps perdu" (Remembrance of Things Past or "In Search of Lost Time") Michel de Montaigne - The "Essays" La Fontaine - The "Fables" Stendhal - "Le Rouge et le noir" ("The Red and The Black") François Rabelais - "Gargantua" and "Pantagruel" Honoré de Balzac - "Le père Goriot" Gustave Flaubert - "Madame Bovary " Émile Zola - "Germinal" Albert Camus - "The Stranger" François-René de Chateaubriand - "Genius of Christianity" Stéphane Mallarmé - "Un coup de dés" ("A Throw of the Dice") Denis Diderot - "Jacques le fataliste" ("Jacques the Fatalist") Jean Racine - "Phèdre" Louis-Ferdinand Céline - "Voyage au bout de la nuit" ("Journey to the End of the Night") Victor Hugo - "Notre Dame de Paris" ("The Hunchback of Notre Dame"), Les Misérables, "Les Contemplations" Gaston Leroux- ''Le Fantôme de fifty'opéra ("The Phantom of the Opera"), Le Mystère de la chambre jaune'' ("The Mystery of the Yellow Room")

Literary criticism

Roland Barthes Paul Bénichou Jacques Derrida Julia Kristeva Jacques Lacan Jean-François Lyotard

Poetry
Parnassian Romanticism Symbolism (arts) Surrealism