Search the Davidson Library Catalog to find additional reference books.
Welcome to the French & Francophone Studies research guide! Use this guide as a starting point for your research in this subject area.
Cambridge Introduction to Francophone Literature by
The literature of French-speaking countries forms a distinct body of work quite separate from literature written in France itself, offering a passionate creative engagement with their postcolonial cultures. This book provides an introduction to the literatures that have emerged in the French-speaking countries and regions of the world in recent decades, illustrating their astonishing breadth and diversity, and exploring their constant state of tension with the literature of France. The study opens with a wide-ranging discussion of the idea of francophonie. Each chapter then provides readers with historical background to a particular region and identifies the key issues that have influenced the emergence of a literature in French, before going on to examine in detail a selection of the major writers. These case studies tackle many of the key authors of the francophone world, as well as new, up-and-coming authors writing today.
The Columbia History of Twentieth-Century French Thought by
With more than two hundred entries by leading intellectuals in the French- and English-speaking world, this new volume presents the authoritative guide to twentieth-century French thought. Unrivaled in its scope and depth, The Columbia History of Twentieth-Century French Thought covers and critiques the intellectual figures, movements, and publications that helped shape and define fields as diverse as history and historiography, psychoanalysis, film, literary theory, cognitive and life sciences, literary criticism, philosophy, and economics. The contributors also discuss developments in French thought on such subjects as pacifism, fashion, gastronomy, technology, and urbanism. More than just a reference volume, The Columbia History of Twentieth-Century French Thought offers original and imaginative explorations of a variety of topics. Contributors include prominent French thinkers, many of whom have played an integral role in the development of French thought, and American, British, and Canadian scholars who have been vital in the dissemination of French ideas. The book brings together such pairings as Etienne Balibar on Althusser; Jean Baudrillard on the futures of theory; Judith Butler on Hegel in France; Régis Debray on mediology; Julia Kristeva on Proust; Michael Morange on the life sciences; Paul Ricoeur on ethics; Elisabeth Roudinesco on psychoanalysis; and Roger Shattuck on humanisms. The book is divided into four parts: Movements and Currents (including all the major schools of thought, such as the Annales, deconstruction, Gaullism, négritude, the New Right, psychoanalysis, and structuralism); Themes (ideas that helped define intellectual work in the twentieth century, such as anti-Semitism, the avant-garde, everyday life, film theory, and nationalism); Intellectuals (including critical accounts of the lives and work of such figures as Aron, Barthes, de Beauvoir, Deleuze, Derrida, Foucault, Irigaray, Kristeva, Levinas, and Proust); and Dissemination (covering influential journals, television shows, radio programs, and newspapers).
Francophone Studies: The Essential Glossary by
This glossary offers an introduction to Francophone culture and society and a roadmap to further study. Designed specifically with undergraduates in mind, it contains around 400 short and accessible explanations of the key words, events, figures, and concepts in Francophone Studies since 1945. From "afropessimisme" and "griots" to the "Brazzaville Declaration" and "wilaya," this glossary gives an interdisciplinary overview of Francophone culture and society, and offers directions for further reading. Covering politics, popular culture, private life, cultural institutions, and significant events, the entries are fully cross-referenced and assume no prior knowledge, making this an essential reference.
French Culture and Society: The Essential Glossary by
This is the first in a series of reference books that offer both an introduction to their subject and a road-map to further study. Designed specifically with students in mind, this book contains about 350 concise and accessible explanations of the key issues, events, and concepts in France since 1918, and around 450 brief entries on key individuals and other items.
