Since 1901, Among the nobel laureates in literature, French writers have accounted for as many as 15, the highest proportion. French writers whose names are numerous and well-known abroad – Romain Rolland, Gide, Camus, Clézio, Modiano, whose works have been translated into many national editions also confirm the importance of French literature in the history of world literature.
Why is French literature so remarkable? There are many reasons for this, but let's take a familiar example – for example, the word "salon", which originally originated from the transliteration of the French "Salon", was first derived from the Salon culture that prevailed in France in the 17th century.
At that time, French high society often turned the living room of a private mansion into a famous social place, and the people who came and went here were mostly dramatists, novelists, poets, musicians, painters, critics, philosophers... Later, this form of gathering was named "Salon", which largely promoted the birth of countless masters.
Early Salon culture in France
Of course, if the perspective of 17th-century France is broadened, it must be impossible to avoid French classical literature, whether in depth or breadth, French classical literature not only affected France and European countries, but the rest of the sound even penetrated into the early 19th century.
Classicism is a product of the absolute monarchical system, and in literary works, it is expressed as "reflecting real life and rejecting excessive emotions", "advocating the sacrifice of personal interests and obeying the interests of the state", "borrowing ancient metaphors from the present and thinking about the current state through the history of predecessors", "tragicomedy and comedy cannot be mixed, and the dramatic language must maintain poetic style".
With the support of the crown, the best playwrights, painters, architects, and musicians of the time were in contact with the court. In a sense, the royal palace is a huge "salon parlor", and it has indeed spawned one popular work after another, brewing a unique system and having a profound impact on French literature.
In the early classicism, many prose masters appeared, including La Roche Fuucco, Pascal, Cardinal Rez, Madame Sevigne, Bossuet, Madame LaFayette, etc., each of them excelling in different forms of prose.
For example, La Roche Fuco's "Moral Proverbs" shows his profound understanding of reality as a nobleman after experiencing the torture of Ququ, and summarizes the spiritual characteristics of the upper class people, which also becomes his weapon to expose social vices.
The Moral Proverbs is not a collection of norms and precepts that tell people what they should and cannot do, but rather a series of analyses and descriptions of the qualities of people's behavior, revealing what people are actually doing and thinking, similar to a work of moral psychology.
When the book came out, it produced two very different repercussions, on the one hand, many people felt that it said what people wanted to say, exposed the moral corruption and hypocrisy of the high society and the court and nobility at that time, and welcomed it warmly; but on the other hand, it was also subjected to many rebukes and accusations, as can be seen from the last few proverbs of the book: "The reason why people oppose these proverbs that expose people's hearts is that they are afraid of being exposed." ”
The Moral Proverbs
Author: La Roche Foucault
Of course, in French classical literature, drama is the most outstanding achievement. The names of tragic writers Pierre Corneille, Jean Racine, comedy writer Molière and other literary heroes lit up that era.
First of all, tragedy was considered a noble literary form at that time, which inherited the tragic system of ancient Greece and allowed the audience to get psychological catharsis in the process of watching the play.
For example, Gonayi's "Horace", the protagonist in this work is based on the Roman historical figures and shaped, the three brothers of Horace of Rome and the three brothers of the neighboring Alepberjurias, each fighting for their own country, this work has a very strong sense of crisis of the times, the conflict between national responsibility and the feelings of relatives is suddenly placed in the core of the tragic conflict, Corneille also aims to use art to praise patriotic responsibilities and obligations, enhance the status of the kingdom and national prestige.
Horace
Author: Pierre Corneille
Molière is a name that the French are proud of. He is the father of French comedy and a world-class master of comedy in the history of Western culture. This "Zhao Shaohou Translation of Molière's Drama Maupassant Short Stories" selects three of Molière's most representative plays: "The Haters", "Hypocrites", and "Miserly People", and at the same time, 21 Maupassant short stories that can be called classics are also included.
Maupassant's genius lies in the fact that he is both vivid in his narrative and ink, and a few strokes make the atmosphere of the environment jump on the paper, and a few words of dialogue make the character image come alive. His descriptions are accurate and concise, and the novel not only reflects the ideological content of reality, but also a fascinating work of art, which has a strong appeal.
Zhao Shaohou's Translation of Molière's Drama Maupassant Short Stories
Author: Molière/Maupassant translated by Zhao Shaohou
Jean-de-La Fontaine, a famous French poet and allegorical writer, was praised by the famous French literary critic Tainer in the 19th century as "homer of France", and his works were favored by Louis XIV and occupied an important position in the entire history of world literature.
Most of Fontaine's fables are based on ancient Greek, Roman and Indian prophecies, as well as medieval and seventeenth-century folktales, but he turned the old into something new, and his fable-telling work took it to an unprecedented level. Each fable is short, exquisite, vivid and interesting, but the moral contained in the story is very profound, full of wisdom for people to deal with the world.
This edition of La Fontaine's Fables is included in the "Masterpiece Illustrated Classics" series, which is accompanied by 100 exquisite print illustrations carefully painted by the British illustrator Birlinhurst, which further expands the meaning space of this literary classic.
The Fables of La Fontaine
Author: La Fontaine
The last decade of the 17th century was a period of decline in French literary classicism and a period of great decline in the reign of Louis XIV. The more prominent literary works of this period are: La Bruyère's "Theory of Character", which is ostensibly moral preaching, but in essence social criticism; Feneron's novel "The Adventures of Telemachus", which uses Greek mythology as the theme to criticize the dynastic government of Louis XIV. This tendency to be dissatisfied with and critical of reality foreshadowed the dawn of the 18th-century Enlightenment.
It is a richly worded, varied, and skillful collection of satirical prose, consisting of short chapters in the form of proverbs and close-ups depicting portraits of certain typical figures, and is an epoch-making prose masterpiece in French literature. The writing style is concise, the vocabulary is rich, the sentences are very short, and the world is completely described in a white painting technique.
"The Theory of Character"
Author: La Bruyère
Why is French literature so remarkable? What was the influence of 17th-century classicism? If you miss today's book list, you may not be able to understand the seriousness and profundity of the French hidden under the cynical mask, nor can you appreciate the beauty of French literature, hoping that we will follow the imprint of history and explore the answer between history and text.
▼
▲