As a newbie to French culture I would like to know what are the peoms I could learn to have bit of a classical background. I am totally in the dark on the subject.
Verlaine has a very nice musicalité. Compared to Baudelaire and Rimbaud, Verlaine seems somewhat underestimated these days. But I have always liked his subtext of melancholy underneath all that légèreté. Our prof in Berkeley made us memorize "Le Bateau Ivre" from beginning to end. I may not remember the names of all the US presidents but I will always remember: Mais, vrai, j'ai trop pleuré ! Les Aubes sont navrantes. Toute lune est atroce et tout soleil amer : L'âcre amour m'a gonflé de torpeurs enivrantes. Ô que ma quille éclate ! Ô que j'aille à la mer !
Thanks, I know Rimbaud and Baudelaire, we have a great old book of Baudelaire. I loved Rimbaud back in artschool but I never read it in French. I had never heard of Verlaine.
What about literary classics that are must reads for school?
I kept wishing other STs, especially linguist Ken and Sylvain the "real" Frenchman, would respond… You didn't know Verlaine? He and Rimbaud were boyfriends! I once lived across the street from their old digs, on rue Nicolet. Indeed lots of anar vibes there...
When I first arrived in Paris, a "femme du monde" recommended that I read Colette for my French.
Of the 19th century novelists, I liked Flaubert most. Besides his famous novels, his "voyages en Egypte" are a very interesting read, maybe not 100% for (the extremely rich) literary reason… He went to Egypt with his pal Maxime du Camp. Those two wild joyboys "did" Cairo alright. That must have been the earliest sex tourism. Flaubert wrote home to another classmate, of some astounding wild scenes that I can't possibly allude to here. (But did learn, well, one word.) At the same time he was writing - most affectionately - to his mother talking about the beautiful sites he had seen. He called his mum "ma petite vieille". You can verify the dates! the grivoises letters and the letters of filial love were sometimes written on the same dates; what's that about?
One writer I really couldn't get into was Balzac. Who was it who criticized his way of describing every piece of furniture and its wear and tear: he's no novelist; he's an accountant. Something iike that. Echoes Truman Capote's delicious cut of Kerouac writing "On the road" in 2 weeks: "2 weeks? That isn't writing; it's typing."
I liked Louis Aragon's "Aurélien" too. He also wrote some wonderful love poems for his wife. (In his old age he said he was gay. So. WhatEVER.) Then there is Proust. But one needs a lot of time and a lot of calm for the reading, in order to do P justice, I think.
How far back do you want to go, and in what genres? Quick potted history along the lines of the standard lit-hist curriculum:
16th century: Ronsard (poems), Rabelais (raunchy prose), Montaigne (quirky humanist essays) 17th century: the "classical" era; Corneille and Racine for drama on Greco-Roman themes in very formal poetic metre, Molière for comedies that still live ("I've been speaking prose all my life and I never knew!"), the letters of Mme de Sévigné 18th century: Voltaire's Candide (and lots more besides); the Enlightenment (Diderot, Rousseau); Choderlos de Laclos's Les Liaisons Dangereuses; Beaumarchais for satirical comedies (Marriage of Figaro for one). 19th century: BIG novels (yes, Balzac and Hugo could be prize windbags, but don't overlook Stendhal and Zola as well as Flaubert - try Trois Contes, which is manageably short). In poetry, you could have a look at some Gérard de Nerval (who took walks with a lobster on a lead) "Je suis le veuf, le ténébreux.." Baudelaire is the core name, so you already have an important foothold. Hugo may still be to some extent as unavoidable in poetry too, as he used to be decades ago ("Waterloo, Waterloo, morne plaine....").
Not sure where your "classical" definition cuts off...
This is already so much, thank you both. I read Voltaire's Candide in art school, we anylized it, and I also read Moliere I can't remember what, it was too long ago. Flaubert too. I guess I am at about a college (middle school) reading level in French so will look for some of these titles. I've read Simenon but in Italian, not really a classic from your lists but easier reading for me. Colette might be a goood choice to start with, I coudn't get into it in English
Funny what you say about Balzac desribing every rip and tear, sounds tedious. I like the idea of reading something raunchy, makes it more interesting and probably better for learning spoken French.
[Typo edited - Bolzac to Balzac]
This message has been edited. Last edited by: David,
You might want to check out this website, a section of Frenchtoday.com. It has free downloads of readings of classic French poems. There is also a button on the site to subscribe to the poetry podcasts via iTunes.
I haven't tried any of these, but just stumbled across the site when looking at other French podcasts.
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