Reference Sources
- The ARTFL Encyclopédie The Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, par une Société de Gens de lettres was published under the direction of Diderot and d'Alembert, with 17 volumes of text and 11 volumes of plates between 1751 and 1772. Containing 74,000 articles written by more than 130 contributors, the Encyclopédie was a massive reference work for the arts and sciences, as well as a machine de guerre which served to propagate the ideas of the French Enlightenment. The impact of the Encyclopédie was enormous. Through its attempt to classify learning and to open all domains of human activity to its readers, the Encyclopédie gave expression to many of the most important intellectual and social developments of its time.
- Oxford Reference This link opens in a new windowPublished by Oxford University Press, it is a fully-indexed, cross-searchable database containing dictionaries, language reference and subject reference works.
- Oxford Scholarship Online This link opens in a new window
Cross-searchable library containing the full text and abstracts of classic and newly published Oxford books in the areas of biology, business and management, classical studies, economics and finance, history, law, linguistics, literature, mathematics, music, neuroscience, philosophy, physics, political science, psychology, public health and epidemiology, religion, and social work.
- Cambridge Companions Complete Collection This link opens in a new windowThe Cambridge Companions present collections of essays written by leading experts in the field on themes, subjects, and key figures in three broad areas: Literature and Classics; Philosophy, Religion, and Culture; and Music.
The Cambridge Companion to French Literature by
In this authoritative and accessible account of French literature, sixteen essays by leading specialists offer provocative insights into French literary culture, its genres, movements, themes, and historic turning points, including the cultural and linguistic challenges of today's multi-ethnic France. The French have, over the centuries, invented and reinvented writing, from the Arthurian romances of Chrétien de Troyes to Montaigne's Essays, which gave the world a new literary form and a new standard for writing about personal thought and experience; from the highly polished tragedies of French classicism to the satirical novels of the Enlightenment; from Proust's explorations of social and sexual mores to the 'New Novel' of the late twentieth century; and from Baudelaire's urban poetry to today's poetic experiments with sound and typography. The broad scope of this Companion, which goes beyond individual authors or periods, enables a deeper appreciation for the distinctive literature of France.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2015
Introduction to Nineteenth-Century French Literature by
Everyone knows something of nineteenth-century France - or do they? "Les Miserables", "The Lady of the Camelias" and "The Three Musketeers", "Balzac" and "Jules Verne" live in the popular consciousness as enduring human documents and cultural icons. Yet, the French nineteenth century was even more dynamic than the stereotype suggests. This exciting new introduction takes the literature of the period both as a window on past and present mindsets and as an object of fascination in its own right. Beginning with history, the century's biggest problem and potential, it looks at narrative responses to historical, political and social experience, before devoting central chapters to poetry, drama and novels - all genres the century radically reinvented. It then explores numerous modernities, ways nineteenth-century writing and mentalities look forward to our own, before turning to marginalities - subjects and voices the canon traditionally forgot. No genre was left unchanged by the nineteenth century. This book will help to discover them anew.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 2007
The Cambridge Companion to the French Novel by
This volume offers a unique and valuable insight into the novel in French over the past two centuries. In a series of essays, acknowledged experts discuss a variety of topics including nineteenth-century realism, women and fiction, popular fiction, experiment and innovation, war and the Holocaust, the Francophone novel, and postmodern fiction. They offer a challenging reassessment of major figures, while deliberately reading traditional views of literary history against the grain. Theoretical discussion is combined with close reading of texts and exploration of context, comparison with other genres and other literatures, and reference to novels from earlier periods. This companionable introduction includes a chronology and guide to further reading. From it emerges a strong sense of the vitality and energy of the modern French novel, and of the debates surrounding it.
Location: OnlinePublication Date: 1997
The Origins of Modern Feminism: women in Britain, France, and the United States, 1780-1860 by Location: Mugar Memorial Library Stacks ; HQ1596 .R39 1984Publication Date: 1984
French Feminism in the 19th Century by
Histories of France have erased the feminist presence from nineteenth-century political life and the feminist impact from the changes that affected the lives of the French. Now, French Feminism in the Nineteenth Century completes the history books by restoring this missing--and vital--chapter of French history. The book recounts the turbulent story of nineteenth-century French feminism, placing it in the context of the general political events that influenced its development. It also examines feminist thought and activities, using the very words of the women themselves--in books, newspapers, pamphlets, memoirs, diaries, speeches, and letters. Featured is a wealth of previously unpublished personal letters written by Saint-Simonian women. These engrossing documents reveal the nuances of changing consciousness and show how it led to an autonomous women's movement. Also explored are the relationships between feminist ideology and women's actual status--legal, social, and economic--during the century. Both bourgeois and working-class women are surveyed. Beginning with a general survey of feminism in France, the book provides historical context and clarifies the later vicissitudes of the "condition feminine."
Location: Online and Mugar Memorial Library Stacks ; HQ1615 .M67 1984Publication Date: 1985
Literary Biography
- Gale in Context: Biography This link opens in a new window
Biography In Context offers biographical information about historically significant figures as well as present-day newsmakers. It includes reference content alongside magazine and journal articles, primary sources, videos, audio podcasts, and images.
- Contemporary Authors This link opens in a new windowA bio-bibliographical guide to current writers in fiction, general nonfiction, poetry, journalism, drama, motion pictures, television, and other fields.
- Literature Online This link opens in a new window
LION includes texts, criticism, and reference material, including thousands of literary articles, essays, biographies and encyclopedia entries on over 350,000 works of poetry, prose, and drama from the 8th to the 21st century.
Guide to French Literature by
The accompanying volume to the Guide to French Literature: 1789 to the Present, this text traces the flow of ideas from writer to writer and the connection between literature and the other arts, and the interaction between writers and the political, social and economic circumstances of their age.
Location: Mugar Memorial Library Reference X ; PQ41 .L48 1992Publication Date: 1993
French Women Writers: a bio-bibliographical source book by
This bio-bibliographical reference book will acquaint the reader with the lives and works of some of the most important women writers in the history of French literature. Fifty-one essays cover the lives and works of individual writers with an emphasis on their experiences as writers, a discussion of their major themes, and brief surveys of critical reactions. The names of many of the writers included will be familiar to students of literature for they have long been included in the French literary canon. Some, however, will be unknown even to the specialist. Each essay is followed by a bibliography of primary works, a list of titles translated into English, and a selection of critical studies. An additional essay describes the trobairitz, the women troubadours of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The volume ends with a chronology which features the dates of events and trends of special significance to French women. The chronology also serves to place their writings in the context of important literary movements and alongside the productions of their usually better-known male contemporaries. Like other Greenwood bio-bibliographical source books, French Women Writers is intended for use by general readers as well as students and scholars of French and world history and literature.
Location: Mugar Memorial Library Reference X ; PQ149 .F73 1991Publication Date: 1991
Dictionnaire des écrivains de langue française by
Abridged edition (revised and updated) of the 1984 and 1994 editions of the Dictionnaire des littératures de langue française.
Location: Mugar Memorial Library Reference X (PQ41 .B412 2001)Publication Date: 2001
