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Must-read literature of modern French | ||
Tags: Literature | French | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading |  | |
| maaku Senior Member United States Joined 5565 days ago 359 posts - 562 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 53 20 September 2009 at 7:27am | IP Logged |
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Would anyone have recommendations of really good, modern French literature? I like to have something worth reading that I can compare my progress against. In German, for example I have copies of Der Vorleser and Das Parfum sitting prominently on my desk to inspire my studies. Some googling came up with Le Procès-Verbal, but that's just because it won the Nobel Prize for literature; really I know nothing about this field. But I'm willing to learn! Anyone here have any suggestions?
PS: I prefer something modern (at least 20th century), although I have nothing against a historical setting. There's nothing wrong with historical literature (someday I hope to read the major works of Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas...), but I just don't want to deal with out-of-date language just yet. Edited by maaku on 28 November 2009 at 7:11pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7367 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes 12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 53 20 September 2009 at 7:52am | IP Logged |
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How about Marguerite Yourcenar, for instance L'oeuvre au noir. This is historical literature in the proper sense, as the story happens in centuries past, but she wrote it a couple decades ago. Edited by administrator on 20 September 2009 at 7:52am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| maaku Senior Member United States Joined 5565 days ago 359 posts - 562 votes Speaks: English* | Message 3 of 53 21 September 2009 at 9:18am | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the suggestion, admin. L'oeuvre au noir looks promising; I've ordered a copy.
But surely administrator isn't the only one here into French literature... surely there are others that have read something in French lately that they would recommend? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Meadowmeal Pentaglot Groupie Netherlands Joined 5702 days ago 43 posts - 57 votes Speaks: Dutch*, French, English, German, Polish Studies: Romanian | Message 4 of 53 21 September 2009 at 2:40pm | IP Logged |
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I would recommend Agota Kristofs classic trilogy: Le Grand Cahier (1986), La Preuve (1988), Le Troisième Mensonge (1991). It's written in rather simple French, because the author is Hungarian and French is not her mother tongue. This means you can read it quite fast, which is good for your confidence. And it's a great story too if your not affraid of unreliable narrators.
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| Wilco Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6321 days ago 160 posts - 247 votes Speaks: French*, English, Russian | Message 5 of 53 21 September 2009 at 4:32pm | IP Logged |
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I would highly recommend "Un roman russe" (2007) by Emmanuel Carrère. The story is extremely well written and Carrère's french is simple and pure, so I guess it wouldn't be a problem for foreigners.
"Le testament français" (1995) by Andreï Makine is also a good example of high-quality french litterature, his french might be just a little difficult. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Anekantavada Newbie United States Joined 5725 days ago 11 posts - 18 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, French | Message 6 of 53 22 September 2009 at 2:46am | IP Logged |
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I study French mainly for academic purposes, so I can't say I'm very well-read in recent French literature. I do recall having read Michel Butor after seeing Roland Barthes praise his work, but I'm not sure if his French is appropriate for what you are looking for. Perhaps someone better informed than I can help you here.
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| rggg Heptaglot Senior Member Mexico Joined 6316 days ago 373 posts - 426 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Indonesian, Malay Studies: Romanian, Catalan, Greek, German, Swedish | Message 7 of 53 22 September 2009 at 9:04pm | IP Logged |
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What genre? Science fiction? Romance? =)
Maybe this isn't what you're looking for, but here are some recommendations: Bonjour tristesse - Françoise Sagan Le Lion - Joseph Kessel Take care!!! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6025 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 8 of 53 26 September 2009 at 3:32am | IP Logged |
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Rggg, since you mentioned this, can you suggest any good science fiction written in French? I mean original novels not translations.
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