Marcel Proust
Proustmania
Note to readers: You may choose to read this commentary on the work of Proust here or listen to it on the audio file at the end of the article. Ever since I started these lockdown literary excursions last March, … Read More
Molière
To Laugh or To Cry?
Note to readers: You may choose to read this commentary on the work of Molière here or listen to it on the audio file at the end of the article. Those of you who know Paris will be familiar with … Read More
Letters of Madame de Sévigné
On the Road with the Marquise
Note to readers: You may choose to read this commentary on the letters of Madame de Sévigné here or listen to it on the audio file at the end of the article. At a time when France and many other … Read More
Final Transgression
The French at War – With Each Other
What was it like to live in France under the Nazi occupation? What role would you have played in those grim circumstances: Resistance hero blowing up trains? Collaborator denouncing neighbors to the Gestapo? Or simply your average French citizen, cold … Read More
French Science Fiction: Valérian and Laureline
Sci-fi James Bond, Without the Sexism
Valérian and Laureline are the eponymous heroes of a sci-fi graphic series like no other. For one thing, the 24 tales, which appeared over a span of over four decades, between 1967 and 2010, echoed societal changes during a period … Read More
French Science Fiction: Arzach
The Intriguing World of Arzach and Its Influence on Star Wars
There are many affinities between science fiction and detective mysteries/crime drama. When faced with an unknown planet, future or world, or with beings very different from what we have known, we are forced to work out the lay of this … Read More
Pensées
To Read or Not To Read Pascal: Countering Objections
Note to readers: You may choose to read this analysis of Blaise Pascal‘s Pensées here or listen to it on the audio file at the end of the article. At first glance, there are many reasons why modern readers might decide … Read More
French-language Science Fiction
Tintin Goes to the Moon
The French revere bandes dessinées (graphic novels) and consider them the “ninth art,” building on a classification of the arts that originated with Hegel and has been updated over the past 50 years. The ninth art is ranked after architecture, … Read More
Germinal
Mythic Symbolism
Note to readers: You may choose to read this analysis of Émile Zola‘s Germinal here or listen to it on the audio file at the end of the article. As a companion to last week’s discussion of Gustave Flaubert’s famous … Read More
Madame Bovary
Aspirational Heroine
Note to readers: You may choose to read this analysis of Gustave Flaubert‘s Madame Bovary here or listen to it on the audio file at the end of the article. I suspect that Gustave Flaubert’s 1856 novel Madame Bovary is … Read More