French Texts – serie

A gothic tale of murder and adultery, Thérèse Raquin was denounced as pornography on its publication in 1867. "Putrid literature" was how Louis Ulbach described the novel in a contemporary review. Zola defended himself against these attacks in his preface to the second edition, in which he outlined his aim to produce a new, "scientific" form of realism. The novel marks a crucial step in Zola's development and is a major early work of Naturalism.In his introduction to Thérèse Raquin, Brian Nelson places the novel in its cultural, intellectual and artistic contexts, and compares Zola's scientific aims with his actual practice in this work. The scientific status of Naturalist fiction remains problematic; in the final analysis it is influenced by literary models and conventions. Zola's powerful mythopoeic imagination does much to counteract the mechanistic view of humanity the novel was intended to embody. The myth of the fall is, indeed, fundamental to Zola's Naturalistic vision.

A romantic novel set in Paris during the final years of the First World War in which the narrator, a sixteen-year-old boy, recounts his love affair with a woman whose husband is fighting at the Front. From the author of COMTE D'ORGEL. In French.

French text with English introduction and notes.

Widely regarded as Moliere’s masterpiece, Le Misanthrope has nevertheless unsettled audiences and critics for the time of its publication in 166. Moving away from traditional models of comedy where characters have an unambiguous function it focuses on the figure of the misanthrope whose role is challengingly double – his unsparing social critique suggests both the incisiveness of the satirist and the bad humour of the misfit. In its representation of a society where no character has absolute authority the comedy involves the audience in a serious reconsideration of its own values and assumptions.This new edition explores Le Misanthrope as a text and play. In his introduction, Jonathan Mallinson examines the interlocking levels of comedy apparently both in the play’s literary texture and in the original performance. It then discusses the history of its reception and shows how the play has been constantly adapted to the different moral social or aesthetic values of changing times. A detailed critical commentary offers another method of reading the text, analysing the sophistication of Moliere’s comic writing and the theatrical possibiltieis it embodies.

This is a title in the Bristol Classical Press French Texts series, in French with English notes, vocabulary and introduction. This anthology of poems by Pierre de Ronsard contains light poetry, such as witty love poems and Horatian inspired poems on the joys of nature, as well as philosophical and meditative poetry. The introduction situates Ronsard in his literary and historical context, and the notes give the modern reader help in appreciating a 16th-century text.

Great-granddaughter of Minerve, first woman of the Guadeloupean branch of the Lougandor family to be freed from slavery in 1848, the elderly Telumée tells the story of her own difficult life and that of her ancestors. It is a poor black woman’s tale of heroic survival, set in the early 20th century, harsh agrarian environment of a Caribbean island.Through the richly imaged narration of a constantly evolving, cultural significant and always entertaining saga, the author leads the reaer into her native West Indian realm of legends, magic, folkloric wisdom and traditional reverence for the elderly and the past. Her protagonist, Telumée, embodies the innate strength and nobility of women in general and of black Caribbean women in particular.Published in 1972, this book received Elle magazine’s literary prize. This edition reflects the editor’s personal acquaintance with the author, and her country. It provides a synthesis of the latest critical studies, and a thorough interpretation of Creole terms, symbolic imagery and a unique cultural background.

Maeterlinck’s plays typify the spirit of Symbolism and the fin de siècle ethos of the 1890s, but equally they herald in their minimalism the developments of certain features of the late 20th century modernism. Thematically, they evoke some the deeper obsessions of the Theatre of the Absurd. Maeterlinck’s spare and allusive style exploits the unspoken as a force in dramatic situation, and his use of silence promotes a dramatic technique that invites ever deeper introspection in the spectator. The poetic and non-discursive approach creates mystery – a foretaste of Beckett and Pinter.The plays challenged stage designers and performers alike in their innovative use of stage pictures, often akin to film technique. The usual criticism of Maeterlinck’s plays, when they were first produced, centred on what as seen as escapist whims. A century later, attention is turning towards the deeper meanings behind that facade. Intended for the general reader as well as undergraduates, this new edition is the first with English Introduction and Notes; it brings together Pelléas and Mélisande, Les Aveugles, L’Intruse, and Intérieur, making accessible texts otherwise difficult to find, and presents them in a context which encourages full appreciation.