Posts tagged with "Flaubert"

French Books to Read in the Summer!

Posted by Mr. Transparent 3 Comments
Jun 24 2011

C’est l’été, enfin! (It’s the Summer, finally!)

Many friends of mine have been telling me as of late how they’re excited to seize the opportunity of the sudden extra free time in their hands to catch up with la lecture de loisir (leisure reading)—As opposed  to the force-fed textbook “reading assignments” of the school year- and they especially asked me about some good book titles to read en français…

Naturellement, not everyone is necessarily into “les classiques”, but if you are, and are at a loss as to where to begin, here is a short list which should help you decide par quel livre entamer vos vacancs d’été (through which book to kick-start your Summer holidays)—It’s of  no particular order, so it’s all up to you!

  • “Le Petit Prince“, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
    YouTube Preview Image
  • “L’Étranger“, by Albert Camus
  • “Phaedra“ by Racine
  • “Tartuffe ou L’Imposteur“, “L’École des femmes“, or “Le Bourgeois gentilhomme“, all great works by Molière
  • “Candide“, by Voltaire
  • “Mémoires d’Outre-Tombe“ (meaning literally “Memoirs from Beyond the Grave”) by François-René de Chateaubriand
  • “Le Rouge et le Noir” (“The Red and the Black”), and “La Chartreuse de Parme” (“The Charterhouse of Parma”), by Stendhal
  • “Madame Bovary“ by Gustave Flaubert
    • Here is a famous movie adaptation by Claude Chabrol, with the celebrated actress Isabelle Huppert:
      YouTube Preview Image
  • “La Bête humaine“, “Germinal“, or “Aux Bonheur des Dames” (translated as “The Ladies’ Delight“, or “The Ladies’ Paradise“) by Émile Zola
  • “Pierre et Jean“, or “Bel Ami“, by Guy de Maupassant
  • “Notre-Dame de Paris“, or, of course, “Les Misérables“, by Victor Hugo
  • “Pantagruel” or “La vie très horrifique du grand Gargantua” (often known simply as “Gargantua”), by François Rabelais
  • “Eugénie Grandet“, or “Le Père Goriot“, both from Honoré de Balzac’s “La Comédie Divine”
    YouTube Preview Image
  • “À la recherche du temps perdu” (“In Search of Lost Time“), or “Du côté de chez Swann“ (“The Way by Swann’s“), by Marcel Proust

* * *

Je souhaite une très bonne et agréable lecture à tous nos amis!

Summer Reads Summary (en français, svp!)

Posted by Mr. Transparent 3 Comments
May 27 2010

C’est l’été, et les vacances sont enfin arrivées (It’s the Summer, and the holidays have finally arrived.)
Quel bonheur !

Je remercie aussi Jennie de ses nombreux compliments (I thank her for her many compliments), et je souhaite lui dire ceci: J’aime sincèrement beaucoup tes contributions, elles sont variées (they are varied), très souvent amusantes (very often amusing), et particuliérement informatives (particularly informative). J’espère enfin qu’aux yeux de nos lecteurs, nous formons tous les deux une très bonne équipe. Notre blog deviendra bientôt le meilleur sur la scène internautique francophone !

Maintenant, for today’s post, I found recently several friends of mine telling me how they’re excited to seize the opportunity of the sudden extra free time at their disposal in order to catch up with la lecture de loisir (leisure reading) -as opposed  to the force-fed textbook assignments of the school year- and they especially asked me about some good book titles to read en français…

Naturellement, not everyone is necessarily into les classiques, but if you are, and are at a loss as to where to begin, here is a short-list that is meant to help you decide par quel livre entamer vos vacancs d’été (which book to kick-start your Summer holidays), which is in no particular order.

Summer Reads Summary (en français, svp!)* “Le Petit Prince” , by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
YouTube Preview Image

* “L’Étranger“, by Albert Camus.

* “Phaedra” by Racine.* “Tartuffe ou L’Imposteur“, “L’École des femmes“, or “Le Bourgeois gentilhomme“, all great works by Molière.“Candide“, by Voltaire.

* “Mémoires d’Outre-Tombe“ (meaning literally “Memoirs from Beyond the Grave”) by François-René de Chateaubriand.

*

* “Le Rouge et le Noir” (“The Red and the Black”), and “La Chartreuse de Parme” (“The Charterhouse of Parma”), by Stendhal.

* “Madame Bovary“ by Gustave Flaubert.
Here is a famous movie adaptation by Claude Chabrol, with the celebrated actress Isabelle Huppert.
YouTube Preview ImageÂ

* “La Bête humaine“, “Germinal“, or “Aux Bonheur des Dames” (translated as “The Ladies’ Delight”, or “The Ladies’ Paradise”) by Émile Zola.

* “Pierre et Jean“, or “Bel Ami“, by Guy de Maupassant.

* “Notre-Dame de Paris“, or, of course, “Les Misérables“, by Victor Hugo.

* “Pantagruel” or “La vie très horrifique du grand Gargantua” (often known simply as “Gargantua”), by François Rabelais.

* “Eugénie Grandet“, or “Le Père Goriot“, both from Honoré de Balzac’s “La Comédie Divine.“Â
YouTube Preview Image

* “À la recherche du temps perdu” (“In Search of Lost Time”), or “Du côté de chez Swann“ (“The Way by Swann’s”), by Marcel Proust.

***

Je souhaite une très bonne et agréable lecture à tous nos amis!

French Literature – Madame Bovary

Posted by Transparent Language 8 Comments
Nov 15 2009

I was basically introduced to French literature during my third year in college which I spent in Paris studying the Cours de Civilisation Française offered at the Sorbonne through Central College Abroad.

Although it felt like I was never going to get it in the beginning, with help from the teachers at the Sorbonne and my French friends, I unlocked the treasure chest that is French literature.  One of my very favorites is Madame Bovary.  I’m not sure why really, but I fell in love with this novel by Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880).  One of my favorite excerpts is when Emma Rouault (the main character) discovers her new home three days after her wedding to the widowed Charles Bovary, a very shy, uninteresting and insensitive man she had just recently met.  The reader becomes Emma as the description is thoroughly made from her perspective.  The detailed adjectives and nouns make for impressive imagery as Flaubert uses objects instead of emotions to show who his characters are.  It’s heart-breaking to feel just like Emma, the only daughter of a rich Normand farmer, as she discovers a home that her new husband had not even prepared for her, having left it just as his first wife (who Emma refers to as l’autre) had decorated it and which as far as Emma is concerned is old, dirty and of poor taste (un papier jaune-serin, des fleurs pâles, la toile mal tendue, flambeaux d’argent plaqué, bois de sapin, une grande pièce délabrée…).  My favorite line in this chapter is: …Emma songeait à son bouquet de mariage, qui était emballé dans un carton, et se demandait, en rêvant, ce qu’on en ferait, si par hasard elle venait à mourir.

Flaubert apparently wrote this story after having read about a young woman who cheated on and was later murdered by her husband.  Hence, the fact that Emma later commits suicide which is presaged in this line I quoted.

I encourage all my readers to open up a French novel and read just a little excerpt.  Use a dictionary if you really need to, but only for the words that really block your general understanding of the story.  Don’t waste time looking up each and every one of the words you don’t know as this will frustrate you before you even finish one sentence.  And after all, the most important thing is that you get a general idea of the plot or the action as that will be enough to keep you wanting to go back for more.

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