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A Short History of French Literature
Not a library or remainder copy. Pelican Books (Penguin) - Second Printing, 1956. Book has light tanning to pages, o/w this is in excellent condition (appears unread) w/ no writing or highlighting. Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1954
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 10, 2011
In this very readable outline of French Literature up to the early 1950s, Geoffrey Brereton (1906 – 1979), by French Literature the author meant literature written in France, although he occasionally gestures to Belgium and Switzerland. What is missing is literature written in French in the Caribbean region, Canada and Africa. That such pieces are missing may be due in part to the oxonian conception of grand literature tradition in which Brereton was writing in 1954.
The 1960s saw a geographical explosion in the recognition of literature written in French as well as the extension of literature studies into more popular genres, which Brereton does not touch. Thus, even though he deals with the La Fontaine´s fables and Perrault´s fairy tales, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry´s enduring Le Petit Prince is omitted even though Saint-Exupéry´s aviator novels are mentioned. A host of minor poets and fiction writers from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries are mentioned at least and, while surprisingly, so is the belgian detective novel writer Georges Simenon, Jules Verne and Gaston Leroux are not.
The book is at its best when Brereton talks about poetry, which he describes with verve and passion, when he covers pre-1830s literature and when he (lightly) deals with works in history and philosophy. He gets carried away and quotes (a little) verse in the original French without translation (which is fine by me, because even with a little knowledge of French it can be understood, but it could be annoying for some readers. He is probably at his worst when he deals with the French novel after Stendhal and with the exception of Proust, simply because he does not radiate the same passion as when he talks about poetry. His writing on theatre is uneven and tends to become mechanical in the last chapters; it is worth mentioning that Brereton later went on to study French theatre in more detail and wrote two books on the subject.
This is probably not a book for the scholar, and has dated unevenly, but for a reader who has dipped into French Literature. Brereton provides a firm and clear outline which will give such a reader a clearer understanding of what he has read and, more importantly guides and encourages such a reader to further readings; in fact occasionally I had to positively refrain myself from putting down the book and hunting down an interesting reference which I believe is the best kind of praise one can provide for a book of this kind. With this book, in hand I certainly look forward to reading more authors writing in French and to find out what has been happening since Brereton first wrote this very interesting introduction.
The 1960s saw a geographical explosion in the recognition of literature written in French as well as the extension of literature studies into more popular genres, which Brereton does not touch. Thus, even though he deals with the La Fontaine´s fables and Perrault´s fairy tales, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry´s enduring Le Petit Prince is omitted even though Saint-Exupéry´s aviator novels are mentioned. A host of minor poets and fiction writers from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries are mentioned at least and, while surprisingly, so is the belgian detective novel writer Georges Simenon, Jules Verne and Gaston Leroux are not.
The book is at its best when Brereton talks about poetry, which he describes with verve and passion, when he covers pre-1830s literature and when he (lightly) deals with works in history and philosophy. He gets carried away and quotes (a little) verse in the original French without translation (which is fine by me, because even with a little knowledge of French it can be understood, but it could be annoying for some readers. He is probably at his worst when he deals with the French novel after Stendhal and with the exception of Proust, simply because he does not radiate the same passion as when he talks about poetry. His writing on theatre is uneven and tends to become mechanical in the last chapters; it is worth mentioning that Brereton later went on to study French theatre in more detail and wrote two books on the subject.
This is probably not a book for the scholar, and has dated unevenly, but for a reader who has dipped into French Literature. Brereton provides a firm and clear outline which will give such a reader a clearer understanding of what he has read and, more importantly guides and encourages such a reader to further readings; in fact occasionally I had to positively refrain myself from putting down the book and hunting down an interesting reference which I believe is the best kind of praise one can provide for a book of this kind. With this book, in hand I certainly look forward to reading more authors writing in French and to find out what has been happening since Brereton first wrote this very interesting introduction.
November 22, 2020
This book is nothing more than an enumeration of French novelists and poets. There is no attempt made to sketch the wider trends in the French literature. The reader will not learn from the book that the French language was once spoken by all European aristocracy and educated people and, consequently, the French literature was read even in the remotest places in Europe (by Balzac's Polish lover Ewelina Hanska, for example). There is no mention of the connection between capitalism and the rise of the novel. Balzac's novels are essentially about the role of money in a capitalist society. Brereton does not write about the division within the French society between Catholic traditionalists and anticlerical progressists which is essential to understand France in general and its literature in particular. This division expressed itself in all revolutions in France, including the "national revolution" of the Vichy regime. Therefore, Brereton does not understand the importance of Celine's "Voyage au bout de la nuit" in French literature. In conclusion, Brereton's survey is superficial, dated and can be safely ignored.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews