Saturday, July 21, 2007

Francophilia

Have you read any other French novels? If so, what is your favorite?
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8 comments:

Erin said...

I really liked "Candide."

I read "The Stranger" in high school, but I don't remember much of it.

I also read a short novel in French class in college, but I could just barely translate it well enough to tell what was happening. I don't remember the name of it, either.

3:57 PM, July 21, 2007
Ben said...

I don't remember "Candide." The only French novel I remember reading is "The Stranger." I liked it, but then again, I was a depressed 16-year-old at the time.

4:00 PM, July 21, 2007
kc said...

Oooh! I love "Candide." It's delish, and from the same century as "DL."

I also really enjoyed "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (fantastic imagery of 15th century Paris) and the novels of Colette, especially the "Cherie" series.

Christy, I think you especially might enjoy Raymond Radiguet. He wrote two fantastic short novels ("The Count d'Orgel's Ball" and "The Devil in the Flesh" — both awesome). He was Jean Cocteau's lover. He died at the ripe old age of 20. Can you imagine?

"Le Grand Meaulnes" is my favorite French novel, though.

Jean Paul Sartre's "Nausea" is also awesome. Same themes as Camus, but more exciting, in my book.

4:13 PM, July 21, 2007
kc said...

Did evryone have to read Guy de Maupassant's short story "The Necklace" in high school?

4:22 PM, July 21, 2007
kc said...

Ooh, ooh! And "Bonjour Tristesse" by the 18-year-old Francoise Sagan. (Christy, there's a film of this with Deborah Kerr, Jean Seberg and David Niven .... didn't you say you liked Jean Seberg, or am I thinking of Jeanne Moreau?)

4:34 PM, July 21, 2007
cl said...

Hmmm. "Madame Bovary" comes to mind. Also "Candide."

I think I read some Arthurian legends (Tristan and Isolde) by French authors, though those weren't novels.

3:33 PM, July 22, 2007
kc said...

Did you like "Madame Bovary," cl? I read it ages ago. I'd like to reread it in light of some things I've read about it since. I remember that the first 50 pages or so were quite tedious, but then it really picked up.

I tried to read Flaubert's "Sentimental Education" once, because so many people talk about how great it is and how it influenced them, but I found it extremely dull. Maybe I had a bad translation.

I'm thinking about starting "Remembrance of Things Past."

3:39 PM, July 22, 2007
cl said...

I liked it, didn't love it, kc. "Immoral women, tragic ending" tales aren't my favorite ("Tess of the D’Urbervilles,” “Mill on the Floss.”) Although Madame Bovary, like the marquise, was bad to the bone in an enjoyable way.

12:58 PM, July 23, 2007

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