I'm going to start the year by reading some Sartre and Camus.Currently reading huis clos but not sure what to read afterwards, I'm thinking Nausea and Le mythe de Sisyphe.What French literature are you planning on reading? I've been meaning to read Journal d'un curé de campagne and I hope to read a decent amount of Balzac and Zola.I read about 1/3 of the way through La Bête humaine but I spoiled myself and subsequently lost interest.
>>24074164balzac- lost illusion
I loved Against Nature and I plan to read the Durtal tetralogy.Maybe check out the original version 40 day of Saragossa. The Wandering Jew was cut almost entirely from the final version.I also plan on reading Flaubert's Anthony, Salammbo and Sentimental Education. Madame Bovary was great.
I don't know French. Theres a lot of French authors that interest me but I just feel too guilty reading translations
>>24074275Many people consider Moncrieff's Remembrance of Things Past to be on par with the original and a work of art in its own right.
>>24074275You can learn enough french to read sartre and camus without much trouble in less than a year and i'm not joking. i've just done it.c'est facile mec
Any recommendations for famous essays?What are some good essays by Péguy?
2025 will be the year I commit to reading Swann's Way in French, which is what I said in 2024, which is also what I said in 2023 when I bought my French copy.
>>24074202This, but read Père Goriot first.
>>24074321what resources would you recommend?
>>24074275Don't be a babbelfag. There is no fixed meaning in text that for some reason can only be grasped in the language the author wrote it, nor is this quality untranslatable by authors who dedicate their lives to this task. As for the authors whose entire substance is their style, they aren't worth your time.
>>24075716>As for the authors whose entire substance is their style, they aren't worth your time.They're the best kind of authors.
>>24075716pretty retarded binary way of seeing literature. and aeschylus and sophocles are remembered purely because of their style. same goes for richardson and flaubert.
>>24075721What are some of your favorites?>>24075739You misunderstood me. I'm not necessarily calling them bad authors. I just meant that if he's going to read them in translation, they will probably not be good. Because if the style isn't good (in translation), then they're worthless works (in translation), especially if the authors are primarily stylists and their entire substance stems from that. France has plenty of great authors who aren't just stylists.>aeschylus and sophocles are remembered purely because of their style. same goes for richardson and flaubertI haven't read Richardson, but the other three are just as great in translation, although they're exceptions.
I have just bought two books of Maxence Caron that were heavily discounted. I have heard about him from someone IRL but there is only one (1) single post mentioning him in /lit/ archives. At worst I'm in for schizokino.
Where do I start with Anatole France?Do I start with Anatole France?
>>24077143I've read The Gods Will Have Blood and it's pretty good. Definitely worth reading.
>>24077143ThaïsGood if you liked Flaubert's more exotic stuff
>>24074164Jean Patrick Manchette
What are some comfy novels which are about regional cultures in France?
>>24077421Jean giono, un roi sans divertissement
>>24077425That sounds pretty fun actually, thanks>>24077402I've read 15 Georges Simenon novellas already so I'm up for itAny recs?
>>24077430François mauriac makes some pretty comfy novels too.
I would recommendMarcel Schwob, for some surrealismMarcel Pagnol, pick one his literary seriesMarcel Proust, for obvious reasonsAnd for for some genre fiction Fantomas by Marcel Allain.
Pensées et Maximes by Chamfort (the Cynic's Breviary for anglos) is peak aphoristic literature. As funny as it can be edgy, and it can be incredibly funny.>La société, les cercles, les salons, ce qu'on appelle le monde, est une pièce misérable, un mauvais opéra, sans intérêt, qui se soutient in peu par les machines et les décorations.
Anyone here buy La Pléiades?
Started this year with Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. I wanted to read Mysterious Island sometime later hopefully before summer, so I figured it would be wise to read this beforehand. I only have secondhand knowledge of Verne from pop culture, so cool reading him for the first time is pretty neat.Anyway I got the following French reads on my tbr for this year: In Search of Lost Time, Morvagine, Germinal, Pere Goriot, and Hell by Henri Barbusse. >>24077421Maybe try A King Alone by Giono? >>24074272I'm also wanting to read the Durtal trilogy but it seems to be out of print or went to some really niche publisher in English. I think it's Daedalus European classics or something. I'll have to track one down though.
>>24079315I got La-Bas in English and the trilogy in my mother tongue. It really pays off to be multilingual.
>>24074202redpill book
>>24079339In what way?
>>24080654Young protag goes to Paris to make his name in literary circles. Lol who tf reads poetry? Aristocrats have lost their heads. After the revolution the captains of commerce and banking took over the reigns of power. The reading public is now the masses. Sell your pen to the highest bidder. Use a pseudonym so you can get paid by both sides.Cool book.
What books have really good English translations? Hopefully they keep it sounding as French and latinate as possible
>>24080849Remembrance of Things Past
does the writing style of 19th century books feel dated? I stuck to 20th century books so far because I was afraid it would be the case
>>24080873Hey buddy. Fuck you.
>>24081393get gpt to translate it into 21st century teenage burger ebonics
>>24081406I am fr*nch
>>24081409then into nafri ebonics wallah
>>24080873That doesn't really fit at all. Its a very English translation. Its one step away from y'all fellas best mosey on down i say geddondown to the next arrondissement i reckon pardner
>>24081393Maupassant, Zola, Flaubert and maybe Huysmans although I haven't read anything of his besides Sac au dos and a chapter here and there of his other stuffBalzac is slightly differentImo Stendhal feels quite different
Im starting la philosophi dans le boudoir, time to see what the fuzz is about.Camus talked a lot about de Sade in Le Rebel, but i didnt get much out of that book.I read le deuxieme sexe but i felt like i missed out like 40% of it because i havent read fucking Hegel and Heidegger.SimilarlyI started reading The Burnout Society yesterday and im confused as to how popular this book is given that it also requires you to have an understanding of existentialism and psychoanalysis. Theres no way all the people that ive heard talk about it actually have and understanding of those fields.
>>24081447>Recherche du Temps Perdu>Remembrance of Things PastIt's a baller title. I bet you also hate Pope's translation of the Iliad.
I've enjoyed the franco-prussian war in french literature but what are some books which represent the French experience with WW1?
>>24079290Yes. They are worth it, as they ALWAYS contain multiple or a multitude of works. They are well-made, though the leather quality has cheapened over the years (compare a 2020s publication to 1990s or 1970s publication and you'll see what I mean). Plus you get end-notes, context, and an essay/analysis for each work in the volume which is written by a well-respected scholar who is an expert on said work/author. Pléiades are worth it. Stock up, friend.
>>24082095I have 2 so farIdk much about leather quality but the more recent one is stiffer and has a much finer grain pattern than the one from the 70s, is that indicative of quality decline? I like how my edition from the early 70s looks like it's in perfect condition with absolutely no discolouration
Where do you start with Sartre? How accessible is Being and Nothingness for someone who doesn't know much about philosophy?
>>24081548Ok but he said 'dated', not just 'different'.
>>24081548>>24083813I've been trying to ease myself into reading starting with modern stuff like nothomb, houellebec or camus but I'm a total normie when it comes to litterature and don't know where to look forI had the idea to try out books from the 18th because people are always raving about hugo and shit but I'm just scared I'm gonna find it dull because of the time elapsedI'm probably overthinking it I should just read the damn thing
>>24074164>What French literature are you planning on reading?I'm slowly working through Proust (via Moncrieff), and other frogs have been put on the back burner. I read Claudine at School last year and it was pretty fun; general consensus seems to be the Claudine books are a steady decline in quality, but I have them all and might have to see for myself. Memoirs of Hadrian, The Counterfeiters, The Red and the Black, and a few other major French works keep mocking me from my stack, so this might have to be an extra froggy year... the literary merit is obvious but I don't really like the French language so it will likely always be translations pour moi.
I did Le Petit Prince > Le Petit Nicholas > L'Étranger > Le Tour de Monde en 80 Jours > Micromegas, Zadig, Candide > Le Colonel ChabertJust started reading Germinal, after that will probably read Montecristo.
I don't know any French and have never studied but i know Spanish yet am not literate in it. I read some petit prince on a. whim and was surprised at how much I understood. In some ways easier and more enjoyable than attempts at spanish.. I wonder if I can just ease my way into knowing how to read French. Y just working my way through books
>>24082082Paulhan, Le Guerrier appliqué
Reading Le Mur by SartreSartre is pretty good yet he seems to be underrated on /lit/Idk if that's just for political reasonsLes Mouches sounds good
>>24074202ballsack lol
>>24085956hahahaha
>>24082082"Journey to the end of the night" into "Guerre" ("War") by Celine. Yes it doesn't show people dying in the trenches but it show people surviving in a world at war. It will also (probably) cure you from patriotism.
