Did you know Flaubert wanted to write a book about nothing?
did you know the original title for war and peace was "war, what is it good for"?
Is Flaubert "the guy" for French? I've noticed France doesn't seem to have one big masterpiece or artist that towers above the rest of their literature. England has Shakespeare, Spain has Cervantes, Germany has Goethe, Italy has Dante, I guess America has Melville. Who does France have? Is it Flaubert?
>>24710755Flaubert is a bit "the guy" for the English speaking world as I understand.Good contenders for being the guy in French literature are: Molière, Racine and Hugo I believe
he was the jery seinfelds of his time
>>24710755>>24710772i think balzac is "the guy" you fellas should be thinking of here
>>24710795>Ballsack
>>24710755Proust comes to mind, at least in the "one big masterpiece" department. he embodies what I think of when I think of frogs. I probably wouldn't put him up against those others though.
>>24710728Qu’est la accord avec hommes de noir?Ils ne pas noir……et ils ne pas hommes.
>>24710755this isn't news, but yeah they don't have one. i would say it has something to do with the nature of the early development of french literature. if i had to pick, i would pick montaigne, mostly on the grounds of personality and individuality.
>>24712289What about somebody medieval like Chretien de Troyes?
>>24710755They don't have. They have many.
no one ever talks about Flaubert's Salammbo (not to be confused with Sambo). It's very good.
>>24712641>no one ever talks about Flaubert's Salammbo (yes, they do.
>>24712602no. you would have to pick the chansons, the troubadours, the mostly anonymous lancelot-grail cycle, or villon. and none of those really present an all-embracing picture of the world. the anonymous works have a degree of dignity that is unreachable outside that context, but they are limited nonetheless.
>>24712651>the troubadoursthey share those with other regions and it's not really french literature.
>>24710755If not Proust, Hugo is the guy. He could really do it all: drama, poetry, and prose. And some rather interesting forays into the visual arts and occultism for good measure. His cultural impact on French letters and culture also mogs not just Proust but all of his contemporaries. I’d do so far as to say his proper comparison is Napoleon
>>24710735No it was "peace sells but who is buying?"
