Chez Les Francais

"The selections are good and the translations are excellent."―Germaine Bree, New York University Drawn from two centuries of French literature, these superb selections by ten great writers span a wide variety of styles, philosophies, and literary creeds. The stories reflect not only the beliefs of various literary schools, but the preoccupations of French civilization, at the various times of their composition, with the metaphysical and psychological problems of man. Contents include Micromegas (Voltaire), La Messe de l'Athee (Honore de Balzac), La Legende de Saint Julien l'Hospitalier (Gustave Flaubert), Le Spleen de Paris (Charles Baudelaire), Menuet (Guy de Maupassant), Mort de Judas (Paul Claudel), Le Retour de l'Enfant Prodigue (Andre Gide), Grand-Lebrun (Francois Mauriac), Le Passe-Muraille (Marcel Ayme), and L'Hote (Albert Camus). Students of French, or those who wish to refresh their knowledge of the language, will welcome this treasury of masterly fiction. The selections are arranged chronologically, allowing the reader to witness the development of French literary art--from Voltaire to Camus. Excellent English translations appear on pages facing the Original French. Also included are a French-English vocabulary list, textural notes, and exercises. Unabridged, slightly revised Dover (1990) edition of the work published by Bantam Books, Inc., 1960.

Alphonse Aulard (1849-1928) was the first French historian to use nineteenth-century historicist methods in the study of the French Revolution. Pioneered by German historians such as Leopold van Ranke, this approach emphasised empiricism, objectivity and the scientific pursuit of facts. Aulard's commitment to archival investigation is evidenced by the many edited collections of primary sources that appear in his extensive publication record. In these eight volumes of papers analysing the French Revolution (published 1893-1921), Aulard sought to apply the principles of historicism to reveal the truth. The work draws on earlier journal articles and lectures which Aulard delivered as Professor of the History of the French Revolution at the Sorbonne, a post he had held since 1885. Volume 7 (1913) includes essays on feudalism under Louis XVI, regionalism, centralisation, Carlyle's history of the Revolution (also reissued in this series), economic history, and Aulard's personal reflections on his teaching career.