FRE 4331 Survey of French Literature: Specialized Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

A reference book to the writers and genres of French literature from about 400 AD until the Second World War. It also ranges beyond the strictly literary sphere to cover many aspects of French life and history.

A new and reconceived work rather than a revision of the old Companion to French Literature. In 3,000 entries, it provides a guide to ten centuries of work produced in France and, more recently, in other French-speaking countries around the world. It highlights not only poets, novelists, and dramatists, but also historians, statesmen, and philosophers. Among the new features are substantial essays that reflect current scholarship on topics such as literary movements and genres, historical subjects such as chivalry, intellectual movements, linguistic topics, coverage of the sciences, and the arts and media, including opera, cinema, and journalism.

[Vol 1] Le moyen âge
[Vol 2] Le XVIe siècle
[Vol 3] Le XVIIe siècle
[Vol 4] Le XIIIe siècle (pt. 1. A-K. pt. 2. L-Z)
[Vol 5] Le XIXe siècle (pt. 1. A-K. pt. 2. L-Z)

Long survey articles on authors including Life, Works, Publications by genre, Biographical and critical studies and Bibliography. Useful chronology at beginning of volume. Major authors, such as Diderot, Voltaire, Rousseau, etc. are included as well as articles on other topics.

Long survey articles on authors including Life, Works, Publications by genre, Biographical and critical studies and Bibliography. Useful chronology at beginning of volume. Major authors, such as Diderot, Voltaire, Rousseau, etc. are included as well as articles on other topics.

Listing of works related to the study of various literary periods, including Francophone literature, along with general reference and bibliographical works, studies devoted to the French language. Covers publications through 1988. Arranged by literary period, this source includes the typical range of publications: bibliographies, dictionaries, journals, history, literary histories, anthologies, literary criticism and studies arranged by genre and literary movements.

This reference book provides extensive information about French women writers and the world in which they lived. Included are several hundred alphabetically arranged entries for authors, genres, literary movements, institutions, events, and organizations related to French literature. Each entry summarizes feminist thought on the topic, and provides bibliographical information. The volume begins with a feminist history of French literature and concludes with a selected bibliography and a chronological list of French women writers.

An introductory source with 300 entries accompanied by bibliographies. Articles cover writers, literary terms, works and movements for the period 1715-1880.

A collection of excerpts of critical writings on contemporary authors from books, essays and reviews. Entries arranged chronologically by author, including early reviews and a broad spectrum of criticism. Largely French criticism in English translation.

The Encyclopedia offers plot summaries of all Moliere's plays and long articles about characters in them (Alceste, the misanthrope; Marpagnon, the miser; and Tartuffe, the religious hypocrite). Gaines also provides articles about the customs of Moliere's times.

All literary periods are represented by explications from various sources, published in English and French between 1960-1990. Prose poems are not included, Rimbaud being a notable exception.