French literature

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French and Francophone literature

French literature By category French language

French literary history

Medieval 16th century - 17th century 18th century - 19th century 20th century - Contemporary

Francophone literature

Francophone literature Literature of Quebec Postcolonial literature Literature of Haiti

French language authors

Chronological list

French Writers

Writers - Novelists Playwrights - Poets Essayists Short Story Writers

Forms

Novel - Poetry - Plays

Genres

Science Fiction - Comics Fantastique - Detective Fiction

Movements

Naturalism - Symbolism Surrealism - Existentialism Nouveau Roman Theatre of the Absurd

Criticism & Awards

Literary theory - Critics Literary Prizes

Most visited

Molière - Racine - Balzac Stendhal - Flaubert Emile Zola - Marcel Proust Samuel Beckett - Albert Camus

France Portal

Literature Portal

This article is a general introduction to French literature. For detailed information on French literature in specific historic periods, see the separate historical articles in the template to the right.

French literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak other traditional non-French languages. Literature written in French by citizens of other nations such as Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, Senegal, Algeria, Morocco, etc. is referred to as Francophone literature.

Contents 1 French literature 2 Literatures of other languages of France 3 French Nobel Prize in Literature winners 4 French literary awards 5 Selected list of French literary classics 5.1 Fiction 5.2 Poetry 5.3 Theatre 5.4 Non-fiction 6 Literary criticism 7 Poetry 8 See also 9 External links

[edit] French literature

The French language is a romance dialect derived from Vulgar Latin and heavily influenced principally by Celtic and Frankish. Beginning in the 11th century, literature written in medieval French was one of the oldest vernacular (non-Latin) literatures in western Europe and it became a key source of literary themes in the Middle Ages across the continent.

Although the European prominence of French literature was eclipsed in part by vernacular literature in Italy in the 14th century, literature in France in the 16th century underwent a major creative evolution, and throug