———. “Discours de réception.” Académie française, 2006. http://www.academie-francaise.fr/actualites/reception-de-mme-assia-djebar-f5.
———. La disparition de la langue française. Paris: Albin Michel, 2003.
———. Femmes d’Alger dans leur appartement. Paris: Editions des femmes, 1980. Expanded ed., Paris: Livre de Poche, 2004.
———. Women of Algiers in Their Apartment. Translated by Marjolijn de Jager and Clarisse Zimra. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1999.
Memmi, Albert. La statue de sel. Paris: Corréa, 1953.
———. The Pillar of Salt. Translated by Edouard Roditi. London: Elek Books, 1956.
Reclus, Onésime. France, Algérie et colonies (1880). 2 vols. with additional illustrations. Paris: Hachette, 1887.
Rémy, Pierre-Jean. “Réponse au discours de Mme Assia Djebar.” Académie française, 2006. http://www.academie-francaise.fr/actualites/reception-de-mme-assia-djebar-f5.
Sartre, Jean-Paul. “Orphée noir.” Preface to Senghor, Anthologie de la nouvelle poésie nègre et malgache de langue française. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1948.
———. “Black Orpheus.” Translated by John MacCombie. Massachusetts Review 6, no. 1 (Autumn 1964–Winter 1965): 13–52.
Senghor, Léopold Sédar, ed. Anthologie de la nouvelle poésie nègre et malgache de langue française. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1948.
Serres, Michel. “My Mother Tongue, My Paternal Languages.” Translated by Haun Saussy. In Empire Lost: France and Its Other Worlds. Edited by Elisabeth Mudimbe-Boyi. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2009.
Yacine, Kateb. Nedjma. Paris: Seuil, 1956.
The texts by Djebar cited above are some of her most compelling works. Among these, La disparition de la langue française may be the most accessible stylistically. It is not yet translated; the same goes for her last novel, Nulle part dans la maison de mon père [Nowhere in my father’s house] (Paris: Fayard, 2007), which is strongly autobiographical.
If drawn toward Algerian history, readers can find out more from John Ruedy, Modern Algeria: The Origins and Development of a Nation, 2nd ed. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005). For those wanting critical commentary on Djebar, a good place to start is Jane Hiddleston, Assia Djebar: Out of Algeria (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2006).
The novel by Memmi and the long poem by Césaire are also classic entry points into the world of “francophone literature,” and good ones, but that world, as this chapter has tried to suggest, is diverse as well as rich, and there are many other ways in. Readers interested in a particular national culture or geographical area can find pointers, and a wide-ranging overview of francophone literature, in Patrick Corcoran, The Cambridge Introduction to Francophone Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007). Finally, it is worth remembering that the politics of francophonie have always been a matter for metropolitan France too; on this issue, Michel Serres’s autobiographical essay “My Mother Tongue, My Paternal Languages,” listed above, is moving and informative.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
There are many people I would like to thank for various forms of assistance in the arduous task of putting this volume together. First, of course, the contributors, without whose cooperative spirit the book would not exist. Second, the team at Princeton University Press for all the support and encouragement given. Special thanks go to Kathleen Cioffi for having steered the unwieldy vessel safely through production, Beth Gianfagna for a class act of a copyediting operation, and Jenny Lillich for her endeavors in compiling the index.
Finally, my very special thanks to Bridget Strevens Marzo, a lover of French literature, for chat, advice, game-changing input to the cover design, and above all for just being there.
INDEX
Abregé de l’art poëtique françois (Breviary of French poetic art) (Ronsard), 116, 127
absolutism: and monarchical order, 419; and opposition to monarchy, 263; and political theory, 36, 43; and rule of Louis XIV, 180, 203, 263; and La tragédie du roi Christophe (Césaire), 586; and Western history, 43, 85, 448
Académie française: creation of, 7–8, 536, 634; and Jacques Delille, 503; and Assia Djebar, 14, 634, 635, 638, 644, 645; Fénelon’s letter to, 271; and French language, 634; and inauguration of François Cheng, 634, 637; and Eugène Ionesco, 637; La Fontaine’s election to, 230–31; and Lettres provinciales (Pascal), 242; and poem “Le siècle de Louis Le Grand,” 270; and the quarrel of the ancients and the moderns, 8; and Pierre-Jean Rémy, 634–35, 637, 638, 645; and Leopold Senghor, 646; and Michel Serres, 640; and 1782 Prix Montoyon, 337; women members of, 634
actors: and art of acting, 173–74; immorality of, 176; and improvisational style of commedia dell’arte, 174; and interpretation of characters, 589; as subject to excommunication, 176. See also Molière; theater
Africa: and Algeria, 563, 578, 636, 637, 641, 642, 646–49, 650; and anticolonial movements, 578; in Césaire’s writing, 582, 583, 584; and diaspora, 576; and effects of racism and colonialism, 591, 645; and Egypt, 306; and former North African colonies, 634, 638; and literacy levels, 643; and Maghreb region, 643, 647, 648; oppressed people of, 576, 643; and Ourika (Duras), 347; and Présence Africaine, 577; and Une saison au Congo (A Season in the Congo) (Césaire), 587; and Senegal, 643, 646; and the Seven Years’ War, 299; and sub-Saharan Africa, 638; and Les trois volontés de Malic (Malic’s three wishes) (Diagne), 645; and Voyage au bout de la nuit (Céline), 542; and West Africa, 299, 548. See also Algerian war of independence
A la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time) (Proust): and aesthetics, 527, 530; and artist’s homeland, 13; and awareness, 525; and becoming, 530; and character Albertine, 525–27; and character of Charlus, 515, 526–27; and class, 518, 525, 527; difficulties finding publisher for, 514–16; and Du côté de chez Swann (Swann’s Way), 522, 525; and first-person narrative, 595; and focus on interior life, 518–19, 595; and history of the novel, 7, 518, 595; and importance of in 1930, 535; and indecency, 514, 515, 525, 526; length of, 514, 525; and love, 525–28, 530; and madeleine scene, 523; as a multivolume novel, 514, 516, 517, 528, 535; and narrator, 517–18, 526–27, 530; and narrator’s name, 528–529; and A l’ombre des jeunes filles en fleur (In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower), 516, 525; and passage of time, 528; and La prisonnière (The Prisoner), 528–29; and privileged moments, 598; readership of, 514, 517; and religion, 526, 527; and sexuality, 526–28, 530; and social identities, 526, 527–28, 530; style of, 517; themes of, 527–28, 530; and World War I, 530
Algerian war of independence: as background for L’amour, la fantasia (Djebar), 638; end of, 635; and political violence, 596, 638–39; and torture, 631, 638–39; and view of in France, 638; women’s experiences of, 636, 638–39
amour, la fantasia, L’ (Fantasia, an Algerian Cavalcade) (Djebar): and autobiography, 641–42; and birth year of Djebar, 649; and conquest and colonization, 638–39; and French language, 642; as a novel, 636, 648; publishing of, 635–36, 638; style of, 636; themes of, 636, 637, 638; and violence in Algeria, 638–39; and women’s stories, 640
amour fou, L’ (Mad Love) (Breton), 556, 562, 570
Amours (Ronsard), 121, 124, 126, 131
Aneau, Barthelemy: as a critic of the Deffence (du Bellay), 140–41, 147; and French poetry, 144; and the Quintil horatien (Horatian Quintilius), 140
anthropology, 395–96
antiquitez de Rome, Les (Antiquities of Rome, The) (du Bellay): and grand monuments of ancient Rome, 149–50; and sonnets, 151
Apollinaire, Guillaume: and Alcools (Alcohols), 510; and Calligrammes, 510; and concrete poetry, 510; and poetry, 4, 510; and role of chance, 510; series of conversations in poem of, 548; and surrealism, 510, 554; and translation of by Beckett, 620
Aristotle: and anagnorisis, 224; and catharsis, 207; and diegesis, 171; and imitation, 144–45, 443; as an inspiration, 234; and literary criticism, 39, 145, 174, 192; logic of, 47, 49; and love, 132; and a melancholy disposition
, 125; and Montaigne, 158; and “pity and fear,” 280; and Poetics, 442–43; and poetic unity, 282; and recognition plots, 198; and three unities, 171; and tragedy, 195, 198–99, 207. See also Poetics (Aristotle)
Arnauld, Antoine, 241, 242, 244, 245
art: and aesthetics, 277, 278, 352; and ancient Greek art, 507; and “art for art’s sake,” 352; and artistic progress, 287; Baudelaire on, 474; and Breton’s collection of objects, 560–61; and classical verse tragedy, 270–71; and corruption of literature, science, and the arts, 395; and Diderot as critic, 383–84; and engravings by Picasso, 585; and figure of the philosophe, 375; and French opera, 270, 280; and going beyond logic, 511; and Constantin Guys, 475; and illustrations of Odilon Redon for Mallarmé, 496; and Italian paintings, 423; and literature, 276, 277, 286; and music, 279, 280, 362, 379, 384, 385, 516, 612; as opposed to world of finance and commerce, 441; and painting, 7, 166, 255, 277, 278, 330, 331–32, 341, 439, 441, 445, 466; and painting of Réne Char, 572; and pastel of Elisabeth Ferrand, 345; and Picasso and Braque, 511; and poet’s role, 507–8; and posterity, 516; and Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns, 287, 288; and sculptor Giacometti, 557; and Le surréalisme et la peinture (Breton), 562, 571; and Verlaine’s articles in L’Art, 478; and visual arts, 7, 166, 255, 274–275, 277, 278. See also cinema; French literature; French poetry
Art poëtique françois (The French Art of Poetry) (Sébillet), 139, 140
Auerbach, Erich, 455, 466
Augustine, Saint, 241, 393
Aulnoy, Marie-Catherine d’, 224, 225
autobiography, 31–32, 44, 157, 206; and L’amour, la fantasia (Djbar), 641–42; and diaries and journals, 339–41; and fiction, 643, 650; and Hail and Farewell (Moore), 617; and reading of Le neveu de Rameau (Rameau’s Nephew) (Diderot), 384, 389; and “Manon” Roland’s Mémoires particuliers, 340–41;and Staal-Delaunay’s Mémoires, 340; and surrealists, 536; and work of Augustine and Ibn Khaldun, 648; and works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 339–40, 393–411; and writing in prison, 340
Balzac, Honoré de: and Académie française, 634; and authorial intervention, 452; and the boudoir or bedroom, 326; and Colonel Chabert, 441; and La comédie humaine, 415, 426, 601; and commodification of all aspects of life, 418; death of, 433; and La fille aux yeux d’or, 312; and financial speculation, 418; and French society, 415, 418, 419, 426–30, 432, 433; and Illusions perdues (Lost Illusions), 9, 415, 417, 423, 429, 431, 433; and importance of Paris, 415; and marriage to noble heiresses for characters, 417; other novels of, 417, 418; and Le père Goriot, 414–15, 417; and poetry, 125, 477; Proust’s admiration for, 518; in Proust’s society columns, 516; and realism, 451, 466; and rise of self-made men, 418, 429, 431; and salons, 418, 429, 430; and self-invention, 431–32; and Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes (A Harlot High and Low), 415, 417, 423, 427, 429, 430, 431, 433; and upward social mobility, 427, 431, 432
Barber of Seville, The (Beaumarchais), 361–62
Barthes, Roland: and critique of Racine, 205–6; and dialogue with Sartre’s dialectics of engagement, 629, 631; and literature, 45, 567, 607, 628–29; and Literature, Language, and Style, 628–29; and On Racine, 195; and review of The Stranger, 631; and Voltaire, 302; and Writing Degree Zero, 628, 629, 630; and zero degree style, 13, 631
Bastille, 361, 363, 364, 365, 372, 442
Bataille, Georges, 549, 550, 552, 629, 630
Battle of the Books, The (Swift), 271–72
Baudelaire, Charles: and admiration for Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, 504; and apostrophe, 473; and beauty, 507; and the boudoir or bedroom, 326; and capital letters for allegories, 474; and correspondences in language, 471, 508; and the crowd, 472, 475, 477; and dandyism, 470–71, 472, 477, 478; and enumeration, 473, 474–76; and the flâneur, 508; and Les fleurs du mal trial, 10, 37–38; and Constantin Guys, 475, 477; hair of, 439; and imagination, 475–76; and impressionism, 477; and journal Mon cœur mis a nu (My Heart Laid Bare), 472; and memory, 475–76, 477, 478; as a modernist, 470–71, 478; and modern urban history, 7, 470; poems of, 472–76, 479, 508; and poetry, 4, 10, 441, 470–78, 507–8, 510; and prose poem, 476–77, 490; and relationship with reader, 471; and self-consciousness, 471, 486; and spleen, 474, 491n1; and Le spleen de Paris, 476–77, 508; and surnaturalisme (supernaturalism), 471, 474, 491n2; and symbolism, 477; and synesthesia, 471, 477; temperament of, 473–74, 476; and use of the exclamation mark, 473–74; and vagabond consciousness, 10, 476, 508; and vers impair, 479; and women, 471, 472
Beaumarchais, Pierre-Augustin Caron de: and character of Figaro, 10, 361, 362, 368; and dramatic action, 361; and the eighteenth century, 442; and invention of mechanism for watches, 361; and The Marriage of Figaro, 362–65, 366, 368–69; plots of, 352, 362; and relationship between servants and masters, 352, 353, 368; as a revolutionary, 361; and success of The Barber of Seville, 361–62; and time in Saint-Lazare prison, 365; and traditions of Molière and the commedia dell’arte, 352
Beauvoir, Simone de, 31, 518, 519, 596
Beckett, Samuel: as an author in exile, 616, 618; and author Robert Pinget, 627; bilingualism of, 615, 616, 621, 625; and Dream of Fair to Middling Women, 618–19, 626; and En attendant Godot (Waiting for Godot), 183, 621–22; and Ends and Odds, 2; and English literature, 615; and forms of drama, 14; and friendship with Georges Duthuit, 629; and L’innommable (The Unnamable), 607, 608, 625–26, 627, 628; and Jolas’s Transition group, 619–20, 630; and learning French, 619; literary models of, 626–27; and mentor James Joyce, 615; and Mercier and Camier, 624; as a modernist, 615–16, 631–32; as a non-French writer, 637; and novel’s form, 14, 519; as part of avant-garde, 619, 629–30; as a poet, 620–24, 630; and rejection of Sartre’s committed literature, 630; and Sartre’s dialectics, 631; and second avant-garde group, 629–30; and self-translation, 624–26; and spoken French, 626–27; and stay in Roussillon, 618, 619; and surrealism, 619; and translation of poetry, 620; and writing in French, 615, 616, 618, 620; and writing without style, 615, 618, 619, 624, 627, 628
Béda, Noël: and attacks on Marguerite de Navarre, 59; and correspondence with Erasmus, 50–51; as a defender of religious orthodoxy, 50, 51, 67; exile of, 51; and human institutions of the Church, 51; and persecution of Erasmus’s translator and others, 54, 66
Benjamin, Walter: and “On Some Motifs in Baudelaire,” 524–25; and social situation of the French writer, 549–50, 552
Bible: and Book of Job, 296; and Book of Revelations, 151; and flood scene in Heptameron (Navarre), 94; and garden references in Candide (Voltaire), 307; and Geneva Bible, 67; and the Greek New Testament, 36, 48, 50; interpretations of, 241; and Latin, 73; and Marie Leprince de Beaumont as educator, 336–37; meaning of, 54; and Montaigne, 158; and the New Testament, 73, 307, 423; and the Old Testament, 49, 73, 307; original languages of, 56, 74; and personal Christian devotion, 54; and philology, 63, 65; and Les Prisons (Marguerite de Navarre), 64; of Protestants, 127; reading of, 55, 56, 57, 63, 64; and relationship with Christ, 60–61, 63; stories of, 171, 172; and text of the Gospel, 57–58; and translation, 50, 63, 65–66, 67, 73–74, 91; unique authority of, 52; and Vulgate version, 73–74; and wife-husband relationship, 60–61; as work of human authors, 173; and works of Marguerite de Navarre, 65
bildungsroman: and Candide (Voltaire), 303; description of, 433n1; European examples of, 433–34n1; and French political and social history, 420; and Illusions perdues (Lost Illusions) (Balzac), 415, 429; and importance of appearances, 429; and Le père Goriot (Balzac), 415; and Le rouge et le noir (The Red and the Black) (Stendhal), 415; and social change, 432; and Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes (A Harlot High and Low), 415; and success and social prestige, 418; and youth, 417–18, 432
Blanchot, Maurice, 628, 629, 630
Boccaccio, Giovanni: and Decameron, 93, 94, 95; and Marguerite de Navarre, 11; and Tuscan dialect, 148
Boileau, Nicolas: and alexandrine verse form, 126; as an Ancient, 9, 270, 272, 274, 276, 281–85, 287; Art poétique of, 274, 282, 284, 285; and classicism, 26, 281–282; and concern for poetic creativity, 276; and
Descartes, 276; and Discours sur l’ode, 284; and dislike for Augustan culture, 274; and dislike for Ronsard, 122; and French language, 24, 284; and intuition, 284; and linguistic rules, 23; and literary criticism, 41, 274; and Louis XIV, 276; and Clement Marot, 65; and modernity, 275, 276; and modern philosophy, 276; and moral autonomy for literature, 285; and neoclassicism, 281, 282; and poetry, 125, 274, 276, 282; and Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns, 270–71, 274, 283; as a Romantic, 284; and the sublime, 283, 284–85; and support for values of clarity, reason, and moral propriety, 282; and taste for Greek art, 274–75; and tragic pathos, 285; and translation, 284
Bonaparte, Napoleon, 332, 417; and Battle of Eylau, 441; and Bulletins of the Grande Armée, 441; Corsican origins of, 420–21, 429; and creation of nobility, 419, 420, 428; death of, 440; education of, 421, 422; exile of, 421, 425, 440; French interest in, 420, 440; and hereditary dynasty, 419; military career of, 422, 423, 424, 425, 427, 441; and Napoleonic pose, 441; nephew of, 433; and painting of Eugène Delacroix, 439; and Le rouge et le noir (Stendhal), 421–25, 426, 440; and upsetting established order, 425; and upward social mobility, 422, 427
Brazil: encounters between French settlers and cultures of, 158; and History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil (Léry), 158, 164, 256; and Tupi customs, 164
Breton, André: and L’amour fou (Mad Love), 556, 562, 570; as based in Paris, 554, 561; and clash with Sartre, 630; and encounters, 554–55, 556, 560, 561; and found objects, 557, 560–61; and “Free Union” poem, 569–70; and French poetry, 5, 554, 559, 561, 569–70, 571, 573; and hero Marcel Duchamp, 561; as leader of Surrealist movement, 554, 560, 571; and madness, 555, 556; as mystical, 567; and Nadja, 554–56, 569; and objective chance, 561; and Pas perdus (Lost Steps), 556; politics of, 535; and recognition of Césaire’s work, 591; and relationship with Nadja, 555–56; and role of chance, 511; and strangeness, 13; and surrealism, 511, 554–62, 565, 571, 629; and Le surréalisme et la peinture, 562, 571; and truth, 511; and voyage to United States, 560; and writing as living, 562
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