All About French Literature

France is a famously literary country. The country’s authors have won more Nobel Prizes in Literature than any other, and the French read more books than anyone else—a whopping 17 per year!

Let’s explore the world of French literature.

1. Literature Meets Politics

French politicians love books (or at least they say they do.) President François Mitterrand wrote several and President Emmanuel Macron has three novels to his credit—though none have been published. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin was known for dashing off poetry at the same time he was denouncing the war in Iraq. Perhaps the most impressive politician was Manuel Valls, who speaks four languages and reads in all of them. He sat down for a wide-ranging interview about literature while he was Prime Minister, during which he said, “I love people, all different kinds of people, and novels help me understand them in all their complexity.”

2. The Big Six Literary Awards

In the UK, authors yearn for the Booker Prize. In the US, it’s the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. But the French love literature so much that they have not one, not two, but six major literary awards. Plus, there are awards for best first novel, best novel chosen by high schoolers, best essay, and more.

These awards are all announced in November, and it is a stressful time for the authors whose books are under consideration. It is said that winning the Prix Goncourt, the biggest of the Big Six, boosts sales so much that the winner becomes a millionaire.

If you are interested in contemporary French fiction, here are some books and authors to consider.

3. Michel Houellebecq, the Bad Boy of French Literature

Michel Houellebecq has been called France’s greatest living writer, a worthy successor to the likes of Camus and Céline. He has also been called an enfant terrible and a provocateur. His books have sold millions, been translated into dozens of languages, and won many awards.

Houellebecq is unique among contemporary French authors in the way he writes about the cultural alienation caused by globalization, and its consequences. His book Serotonin, for
example, eerily anticipated the Yellow Vest movement that rocked France a few years ago. For a deeply insightful view into contemporary French life, Houellebecq is hard to beat.

4. Fred Vargas, Top-Selling Crime Novelist

One of the most popular writers in France today is Fred Vargas, author of over a dozen policiers (crime novels.) Several of her books have won the Gold Dagger Award, given annually to the world’s top crime novel, and nearly all have been translated into English.

Vargas’s ‘policiers’ are well-written and avoid the formulas common to the genre. Many feature Commissioner Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, the antithesis of the classic hard-boiled detective. He is soft-spoken and eschews normal investigative methods—in fact, he is incapable of thinking logically (much to the frustration of his team!)

5. Bandes Dessinées: Not Your Father’s Comic Books

Bandes dessinées, or graphic novels, are quite popular in France. Unlike comic books with their superhero characters, bandes dessinées (or BDs) deal with all manner of topics, from history to autobiography to pretty much everything else. They are a perfect way to read for the French learner, as they have limited text, plus plenty of images to help understand what is going on.

6. A Forgotten French Masterpiece

If you’d like to go back in time and read a classic, you can’t do better than Eugène Sue’s The Mysteries of Paris. It inspired Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, and The New York Review of Books called it, “The runaway best seller of 19th century France, possibly the greatest best seller of all time.”

Have you read any of these books? Please share in the comments.

Image Credits
Bookstore: Pixabay royalty-free images

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