Paths to Contemporary French Literature
Latest release: September 25, 2012
Series
3
Books
About this ebook series
The first volume of Paths to Contemporary French Literature offered a critical panorama of over fifty French writers and poets. With this second volume, John Taylorâan American writer and critic who has lived in France for the past thirty yearsâcontinues this ambitious and critically acclaimed project. Praised for his independence, curiosity, intimate knowledge of European literature, and his sharp readerâs eye, John Taylor is a writer-critic who is naturally skeptical of literary fashions, overnight reputations, and readymade academic categories. Charting the paths that have lead to the most serious and stimulating contemporary French writing, he casts light on several neglected postwar French authors, all the while highlighting genuine mentors and invigorating newcomers. Some names (Patrick Chamoiseau, Pascal Quignard, Jean-Philippe Toussaint, Jean Rouaud, Francis Ponge, Aimé Césaire, Marguerite Yourcenar, J. M. G. Le Clézio) may be familiar to the discriminating and inquisitive American reader, but their work is incisively re-evaluated here. The book also includes a moving remembrance of Nathalie Sarraute, and an evocation of the authorâs meetings with Julien Gracq Other writers in this second volume are equally deserving authors whose work is highly respected by their peers in France yet little known in English-speaking countries. Taylorâs pioneering elucidations in this respect are particularly valuable. This second volume also examines a number of non-French, originally non-French-speaking writers (such as Ghérasim Luca, Petr Král, Armen Lubin, Vénus Ghoura-Khata, Piotr Rawicz, as well as Samuel Beckett) who chose French as their literary idiom. Taylor is in a perfect position to understand their motivations, struggles, and goals. In a day and age when so little is known in English-speaking countries about foreign literature, and when so little is translated, the two volumes of Paths to Contemporary French Literature are absorbing guides for literary scholars, writers, poets, students of French culture, and readers of contemporary fiction and poetry.
Paths to Contemporary French Literature: Volume 1
Book 1 · Dec 2011 ·
3.7star
The first volume of Paths to Contemporary French Literature offered a critical panorama of over fifty French writers and poets. With this second volume, John Taylorâan American writer and critic who has lived in France for the past thirty yearsâcontinues this ambitious and critically acclaimed project. Praised for his independence, curiosity, intimate knowledge of European literature, and his sharp readerâs eye, John Taylor is a writer-critic who is naturally skeptical of literary fashions, overnight reputations, and readymade academic categories. Charting the paths that have lead to the most serious and stimulating contemporary French writing, he casts light on several neglected postwar French authors, all the while highlighting genuine mentors and invigorating newcomers. Some names (Patrick Chamoiseau, Pascal Quignard, Jean-Philippe Toussaint, Jean Rouaud, Francis Ponge, Aimé Césaire, Marguerite Yourcenar, J. M. G. Le Clézio) may be familiar to the discriminating and inquisitive American reader, but their work is incisively re-evaluated here. The book also includes a moving remembrance of Nathalie Sarraute, and an evocation of the authorâs meetings with Julien Gracq Other writers in this second volume are equally deserving authors whose work is highly respected by their peers in France yet little known in English-speaking countries. Taylorâs pioneering elucidations in this respect are particularly valuable. This second volume also examines a number of non-French, originally non-French-speaking writers (such as Ghérasim Luca, Petr Král, Armen Lubin, Vénus Ghoura-Khata, Piotr Rawicz, as well as Samuel Beckett) who chose French as their literary idiom. Taylor is in a perfect position to understand their motivations, struggles, and goals. In a day and age when so little is known in English-speaking countries about foreign literature, and when so little is translated, the two volumes of Paths to Contemporary French Literature are absorbing guides for literary scholars, writers, poets, students of French culture, and readers of contemporary fiction and poetry.
Paths to Contemporary French Literature: Volume 1
Book 1 · Dec 2011 ·
0.0star
Although the great French novelists of the last two centuries are widely read in America, there is a widespread notion that little of importance has happened in French literature since the heyday of Sartre, Camus, and the nouveau roman. Some might argue that even well read Americans are ignorant about what is happening in European literature generally. Certainly, there has never been so few translations of foreign books in the United States, or so little coverage of foreign writers. Curious American readers need new, up-to-date information and analyses about what is happening elsewhere. Paths to Contemporary French Literature is a stimulating and much-needed guide to the major currents of one of the world's great literatures. This critical panorama of contemporary French literature introduces English-language readers to over fifty important writers and poets, many of whom are still little known outside of France. Emphasizing authors who are admired by their peers (as opposed to those with overnight reputations), John Taylor offers a compelling insider's view. The pioneering essays included in this book offer incisive analyses of the ideas motivating current writing and delve into a writer's or poet's entire output. Although some names may be familiar (Marguerite Duras, HÃlÃne Cixous, Philippe Jaccottet, Henri Michaux), the reader obtains fresh reappraisals of their seminal work. Especially noteworthy, however, are Taylor's lively introductions to many other key writers who either have not yet crossed the English Channel, let alone the Atlantic. Combating the notion that French literature is overtly intellectual, inaccessible, or interested only in formal experimentation, Taylor shows that many French writers are instead acutely inquisitive about the outside world, shrewd observers of reality, even very funny. Although not conceived as a reference book, the volume possesses some qualities of a reference work: a good bibliography, reliable dates and biographical facts. Paths to Contemporary French Literature will be of interest to students of French literature and culture, literary scholars, and readers of contemporary fiction and poetry.
Paths to Contemporary French Literature: Volume 1
Book 1 · Sep 2012 ·
0.0star
Praised for his independence, curiosity, intimate knowledge of French literature, and sharp readerâs eye, John Taylor is a writer-critic who is naturally skeptical of literary fashions, overnight reputations, and readymade academic categories. Here he examines various genres of politically committed literature (such as Jean Hatzfeldâs "narratives" about Rwanda or Tchicaya U Tamâsiâs verse), some overlooked fiction, and several provocative experiments with literary form (ranging from the poetry of Jean-Paul Michel and Marie Ãtienne to the "three-line novels" of Félix Fénéon). Taylor continues to reveal the remarkable resourcefulness of French writing. Besides drawing attention to authors (like Dai Sijie or Albert Cossery) who have come to French from other languages, he has added younger novelists to his critical panorama. Challenging persistent clichés and recovering deserving voices from unjust neglect, Taylorâs vision of French literature conjures up the image of a vital nexus. Poetry crisscrosses with prose, writers from one generation meet up with those from the next or the previous one, while the philosophical ideas underlying French writing are scrutinized. This is an essential guide to the realities of French culture today.