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Must-read literature of modern French | ||
Tags: Literature | French | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading |  | |
| Glendonian Bilingual Diglot Newbie Canada Joined 5708 days ago 26 posts - 37 votes Speaks: French*, English* Studies: German, Italian | Message 9 of 53 26 September 2009 at 3:59am | IP Logged | ||
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Out-of-date language? I can understand your wish to read twentieth-century literature for other reasons that you
have, but don't worry about the language nineteenth-century French novels. They're written in pretty standard French like that of today. I get the impression that French has changed more slowly than English. Maybe the advantage of a late-twentieth novel is that there'd be lots of dialogue with shorter sentences that are easier to read for those just short of perfect proficiency. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| 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 10 of 53 26 September 2009 at 4:32am | IP Logged | ||
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Hi Senin!!!
Quinzinzinzili .- Régis Messac Ravage .- René Barjavel I haven't read them yet, but they seem quite interesting. Take care!!! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6025 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 11 of 53 26 September 2009 at 4:43am | IP Logged | ||
Thanks, I'll have a look at these. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| maaku Senior Member United States Joined 5565 days ago 359 posts - 562 votes Speaks: English* | Message 12 of 53 26 September 2009 at 10:10am | IP Logged | ||
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And thank you to everyone who has added to this thread! It's late now, but in the morning I'll start reading reviews and decide which ones to track down. There's really no shortage of good choices!
@Glendonian English of the 19th century is also written more or less as it is today. However it is the word choice, idioms, and general aesthetic style that has changed dramatically since that period. I don't pretend to be fluent in German or Japanese, but I know enough of each to observe similar phenomenons in those languages as well. Perhaps it is rash of me to assume that it is the case for French, but I would be very surprised if it were not. Hence my hesitation. (That and, yes, I simply enjoy modern literature more anyway). Still I see you are a native French speaker, so maybe I shouldn't be so presumptuous... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6025 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 13 of 53 26 September 2009 at 8:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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However small the changes it is always a safer option to read contemporary works, and it's usually more fun too :P.
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| Patriciaa Diglot Groupie Canada Joined 5676 days ago 59 posts - 73 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese | Message 14 of 53 28 September 2009 at 2:47am | IP Logged | ||
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I strongly recomand "Le Comte de Monte-Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas, I really this book !
It depends what you like but here's some books or authors pretty popular in the french litterature: - Boris Vian - absurd genre, I read "L'écume des jours" for my French class. Not my favorite author, but I think he's a must-read. - Frédéric Beigbeder - I read "Windows on the World" a few years ago and I remember I liked it a lot, lately he has been pretty famous for his novel "99 francs" which has been made in a movie starring Jean Dujardin (it may not be for everyone, though, a lot of sexual and drug references) - Amélie Nothomb - a belgian author who writes strange novels. Stupeurs et tremblements has been made in movie - Gaston Leroux - never read it but Le fantôme de l'opéra is hyper-popular 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Languagelover Heptaglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 7367 days ago 41 posts - 50 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Ancient Greek Studies: Mandarin | Message 15 of 53 29 September 2009 at 4:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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It all depends on your level in French:
Authors such as Michel Butor, Claude Simon or Louis-Ferdinand Celine are very interesting but in my opinion too difficult for a non-native speaker. I would recommend the following: - Marguerite Duras, L'Amant - the Agota Kristof trilogy, definitly a good choice - George Simenon, Le Chien Jaune - Michel Houellebecq, Les Particules élémentaires These are short books which are good introduction to French 20th century litterature. Le Comte de Monte-Cristo is a great book, not too difficult, but very long. Is it worth spending so much time ? L'Oeuvre au Noir is also a great book, but quite long and not so easy. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Marc Frisch Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6656 days ago 1001 posts - 1169 votes Speaks: German*, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Persian, Tamil | Message 16 of 53 03 October 2009 at 1:06am | IP Logged | ||
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- Boris Vian - absurd genre, I read "L'écume des jours" for my French class. Not my favorite author, but I think he's
a must-read. My favorite French novel. - Frédéric Beigbeder - I read "Windows on the World" a few years ago and I remember I liked it a lot, lately he has been pretty famous for his novel "99 francs" which has been made in a movie starring Jean Dujardin (it may not be for everyone, though, a lot of sexual and drug references) I really like his novels and the film is pretty good as well (unfortunately not enough sexual and drug references ;-) I also like Daniel Pennac. You might also try Marc Lévy, whose novels have been turned into Hollywood movies. However, my favorites are Céline (Voyage au bout de la nuit) and Georges Pérec (La vie, mode d'emploi). Not really contemporary, but close enough. Edited by Marc Frisch on 03 October 2009 at 1:08am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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