An Introduction to Twentieth-century French Literature

In this accessible guide, Victoria Best explores the turbulent twentieth century in France through its literature, introducing the works that created fresh perspectives on the human condition in an age of rapid change and insecurity. Challenging and experimental, modern French writing reflects the problems of a culture transformed by sophisticated theoretical inquiry and violent historical events. Preoccupied with finding ways to express new extremes of experience, twentieth-century texts dramatise the realisation that stories provide a significant means of making sense of the world. The book provides an overview of the key literary movements and the major writers of prose, poetry and drama, from great novelists such as Proust, to great thinkers like Sartre, by way of controversial figures such as Genet, Beckett and Marguerite Duras.