French literature of the 20th century general characteristics. The most famous modern French writers

Hi all! I came across a list of the 10 best French novels. To be honest, I didn’t get along with the French, so I’ll ask the connoisseurs - how do you like the list that you read / didn’t read from it, what would you add / remove from it?

1. Antoine de Saint-Exupery - "The Little Prince"

The most famous work of Antoine de Saint-Exupery with author's drawings. A wise and “humane” tale-parable, which simply and heartfeltly speaks of the most important things: friendship and love, duty and fidelity, beauty and intolerance to evil.

“We all come from childhood,” the great Frenchman reminds us and introduces us to the most mysterious and touching hero of world literature.

2. Alexandre Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo

The plot of the novel was drawn by Alexandre Dumas from the archives of the Parisian police. The real life of François Picot, under the pen of a brilliant master of the historical-adventure genre, turned into a fascinating story about Edmond Dantes, a prisoner of the Château d'If. Having made a daring escape, he returns to his hometown to do justice - to take revenge on those who ruined his life.

3. Gustave Flaubert - Madame Bovary

The main character - Emma Bovary - suffers from the impossibility of fulfilling her dreams of a brilliant, secular life, full of romantic passions. Instead, she is forced to drag out the monotonous existence of the wife of a poor provincial doctor. The oppressive atmosphere of the outback suffocates Emma, ​​but all her attempts to break out of the bleak world are doomed to failure: a boring husband cannot satisfy his wife's needs, and her outwardly romantic and attractive lovers are actually self-centered and cruel. Is there a way out of life's impasse?..

4. Gaston Leroux - The Phantom of the Opera

“The Phantom of the Opera really existed” - one of the most sensational French novels of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries is dedicated to the proof of this thesis. It belongs to the pen of Gaston Leroux, the master of the police novel, the author of the famous "Secrets of the Yellow Room", "The Fragrance of the Lady in Black". From the first to the last page, Leroux keeps the reader in suspense.

5. Guy De Maupassant - "Dear friend"

Guy de Maupassant is often called the master of erotic prose. But the novel "Dear Friend" (1885) goes beyond this genre. The story of the career of an ordinary seducer and life-burner Georges Duroy, developing in the spirit of an adventurous novel, becomes a symbolic reflection of the spiritual impoverishment of the hero and society.

6. Simone De Beauvoir - "Second Sex"

Two volumes of the book "The Second Sex" by the French writer Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) - "a born philosopher", according to her husband J.-P. Sartre - are still considered the most complete historical and philosophical study of the whole complex of problems associated with a woman. What is the "female destiny", what is behind the concept of "natural purpose of sex", how and why the position of a woman in this world differs from the position of a man, is a woman capable in principle of being a full-fledged person, and if so, under what conditions, what circumstances limit the freedom of women and how to overcome them.

7. Cholerlo de Laclos - "Dangerous Liaisons"

"Dangerous Liaisons" - one of the most striking novels of the XVIII century - the only book of Choderlos de Laclos, a French artillery officer. The heroes of the erotic novel, Viscount de Valmont and Marquise de Merteuil, start a sophisticated intrigue, wanting to take revenge on their opponents. Having developed a cunning strategy and tactics of seducing the young girl Cecile de Volange, they skillfully play on human weaknesses and shortcomings.

8. Charles Baudelaire - "Flowers of Evil"

Among the masters of world culture, the name of Charles Baudelaire burns like a bright star. This book includes the collection of the poet "Flowers of Evil", which made his name famous, and the brilliant essay "School of the Pagans". The book is preceded by an article by the remarkable Russian poet Nikolai Gumilyov, and a rarely published essay on Baudelaire by the outstanding French poet and thinker Paul Valery concludes the book.

9. Stendhal - "Parma monastery"

The novel, written by Stendhal in just 52 days, received worldwide recognition. The dynamism of the action, the intriguing course of events, the dramatic denouement, combined with the depiction of strong characters capable of everything for the sake of love, are the key moments of the work that do not cease to excite the reader until the last lines. The fate of Fabrizio, the protagonist of the novel, a freedom-loving young man, is filled with unexpected twists and turns that take place during the historical turning point in Italy at the beginning of the 19th century.

10. André Gide - "The Counterfeiters"

A novel that is significant both for the work of André Gide and for French literature of the first half of the 20th century in general. A novel that largely predicted the motives that later became the main ones in the work of the existentialists. The intricate relationships of three families - representatives of the big bourgeoisie, united by crime, vice and a labyrinth of self-destructive passions, become the background for the story of the growing up of two young men - two childhood friends, each of whom will have to go through their own, very difficult school of "education of feelings".

Famous French writers have made an invaluable contribution to world literature. From the existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre to commentaries on Flaubert's society, France is well known for bringing examples of literary geniuses to the world. Thanks to the many well-known sayings that quote the masters of literature from France, there is a good chance that you are very familiar with, or at least heard of, works of French literature.

Over the centuries, many great literary works have appeared in France. While this list is hardly comprehensive, it contains some of the greatest literary masters who ever lived. Most likely you have read or at least heard about these famous French writers.

Honoré de Balzac, 1799-1850

Balzac is a French writer and playwright. One of his most famous works, The Human Comedy, was his first real taste of success in the literary world. In fact, his personal life has become more of an attempt to try something and fail than an actual success. He is considered by many literary critics to be one of the "founding fathers" of realism because The Human Comedy was a commentary on all aspects of life. This is a collection of all the works he wrote under his own name. Father Goriot is often cited in French literature courses as a classic example of realism. The story of King Lear, set in 1820s Paris, Père Goriot is a Balzacian reflection of a money-loving society.

Samuel Beckett, 1906-1989

Samuel Beckett is actually Irish, however, he mostly wrote in French because he lived in Paris, moving there in 1937. He is considered the last great modernist and some argue that he is the first postmodernist. Particularly prominent in his personal life was his service in the French Resistance during World War II, when he was under German occupation. Although Beckett has published extensively, he is best known for his theater of the absurd, depicted in the play En attendant Godot (Waiting for Godot).

Cyrano de Bergerac, 1619-1655

Cyrano de Bergerac is best known for a play that was written about him by Rostand called Cyrano de Bergerac. The play was staged and made into films many times. The plot is well known: Cyrano loves Roxanne, but stops courting her in order to read his poems to her on behalf of his not so eloquent friend. Rostand most likely embellishes the real characteristics of de Bergerac's life, although he really was a phenomenal swordsman and a delightful poet.

It can be said that his poetry is better known than Rostand's play. According to the descriptions, he had an extremely large nose which he was very proud of.

Albert Camus, 1913-1960

Albert Camus is an Algerian-born author who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957. He was the first African to achieve this and the second youngest writer in literary history. Despite being associated with existentialism, Camus rejects any labels. His most famous two novels of the absurd: L "Étranger (The Stranger) and Le Mythe de Sisyphe (The Myth of Sisyphus). He was perhaps best known as a philosopher and his work reflects the life of that time. In fact, he wanted to become football player, but contracted tuberculosis at the age of 17 and was bedridden for an extended period of time.

Victor Hugo, 1802-1885

Victor Hugo would describe himself first and foremost as a humanist who used literature to describe the terms of human life and the injustices of society. Both of these themes can be easily seen in two of his most famous works: Les misèrables (The Les Misérables), and Notre-Dame de Paris (Notre Dame Cathedral is also known by its popular name, The Hunchback of Notre Dame).

Alexandre Dumas, father 1802-1870

Alexandre Dumas is considered the most widely read author in French history. He is known for his historical novels that describe the dangerous adventures of heroes. Dumas was prolific in writing and many of his stories are still retold today:
Three Musketeers
Count of Montecristo
The Man in the Iron Mask

1821-1880

His first published novel, Madame Bovary, is perhaps his most famous work. It was originally published as a series of novels, and the French authorities filed a lawsuit against Flaubert for immorality.

Jules Verne, 1828-1905

Jules Verne is especially famous for being one of the first writers of science fiction. Many literary critics even consider him one of the founding fathers of the genre. He wrote many novels, here are some of the most famous:
twenty thousand leagues under the sea
Journey to the center of the earth
Around the world in 80 Days

Other French writers

molière
Emile Zola
Stendhal
George Sand
Musset
Marcel Proust
Rostand
Jean-Paul Sartre
Madame de Scudery
Stendhal
Sully Prudhomme
Anatole France
Simone de Beauvoir
Charles Baudelaire
Voltaire

In France, literature has been, and continues to be, the driving force behind philosophy. Paris is fertile ground for new ideas, philosophies and movements that the world has ever seen.

Notable French writers

Famous French writers have made an invaluable contribution to the world
literature. From the existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre to comments on
Flaubert society, France is well known for the phenomenon of the world of examples
literary geniuses. Thanks to the many well-known sayings that
quote the masters of literature from France, there is a high probability
that you are very familiar with, or at least have heard about
works of French literature.

Over the centuries, many great literary works have appeared
in France. While this list is hardly comprehensive, it contains some
of the greatest literary masters who ever lived. Quicker
everything you have read or at least heard about these famous French
writers.

Honoré de Balzac, 1799-1850

Balzac is a French writer and playwright. One of his most famous
works "The Human Comedy", was his first real taste of success in
literary world. In fact, his personal life has become more of an attempt
try something and fail than real success. He, by
considered by many literary critics to be one of the
"founding fathers" of realism, because The Human Comedy was
commentary on all aspects of life. This is a collection of all the works that he
wrote under his own name. Father Goriot is often cited in courses
French literature as a classic example of realism. History of the King
Lear, which took place in the 1820s in Paris, the book "Father Goriot" is
A Balzacian reflection of a society that loves money.

Samuel Beckett, 1906-1989

Samuel Beckett is actually Irish, however, he mostly wrote
in French because he lived in Paris, having moved there in 1937. He
is considered the last great modernist and some argue that he is -
first postmodernist. Particularly prominent in his personal life was
service in the French Resistance during World War II,
when it was under German occupation. Although Beckett has published extensively,
he is most of all his theater of the absurd, depicted in the play En attendant
Godot (Waiting for Godot).

Cyrano de Bergerac, 1619-1655

Cyrano de Bergerac is best known for the play that was
written about him by Rostand under the title "Cyrano de Bergerac". play
staged and filmed on it many times. The plot is familiar: Cyrano
loves Roxana, but stops courting her so that on behalf of her not
such an eloquent friend to read her his poems. Rostand most likely
embellishes the real characteristics of de Bergerac's life, although he
really was a phenomenal swordsman and a delightful poet.
It can be said that his poetry is better known than Rostand's play. By
he was described as having an extremely large nose which he was very proud of.

Albert Camus, 1913-1960

Albert Camus - Algerian-born author who received
Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957. He was the first African
who achieved this, and the second youngest writer in history
literature. Despite being associated with existentialism, Camus
rejects any labels. His most famous two novels of the absurd are:
L "Étranger (Stranger) and Le Mythe de Sisyphe (The myth of Sisyphus). He was,
perhaps best known as a philosopher and his work - mapping
life of that time. In fact, he wanted to become a football player, but
contracted tuberculosis at the age of 17 and was bedridden in
over a long period of time.

Victor Hugo, 1802-1885

Victor Hugo would describe himself primarily as a humanist who used
literature to describe the terms of human life and injustice
society. Both of these themes are easily seen in two of his most famous
works: Les misèrables (Les Misérables), and Notre-Dame de Paris (Cathedral
Notre Dame is also known by its popular name - The Hunchback of
Notre Dame).

Alexandre Dumas, father 1802-1870

Alexandre Dumas is considered the most widely read author in French history.
He is known for his historical novels that describe dangerous
adventures of heroes. Dumas was prolific in writing and many of his
stories are retold today:
Three Musketeers
Count of Montecristo
The Man in the Iron Mask
The Nutcracker (made famous by Tchaikovsky's ballet version)

Gustave Flaubert 1821-1880

His first published novel, Madame Bovary, is perhaps the most
famous for his work. It was originally published as a series
novel, and the French authorities filed a lawsuit against Flaubert for
immorality.

Jules Verne 1828-1905

Jules Verne is especially famous because he was one of the first authors,
who wrote science fiction. Many literary critics even consider
him one of the founding fathers of the genre. He wrote many novels
some of the better known:
twenty thousand leagues under the sea
Journey to the center of the earth
Around the world in 80 Days

Other French writers

There are many more other great French writers:

molière
Emile Zola
Stendhal
George Sand
Musset
Marcel Proust
Rostand
Jean-Paul Sartre
Madame de Scudery
Stendhal
Sully Prudhomme
Anatole France
Simone de Beauvoir
Charles Baudelaire
Voltaire

In France, literature has been, and continues to be, the driving force behind philosophy.
Paris is fertile ground for new ideas, philosophies and movements that
ever seen the world.

Every year on March 20, International Francophonie Day is celebrated. This day is dedicated to the French language, which is spoken by more than 200 million people around the world.

We took advantage of this occasion and offer to recall the best French writers of our time, representing France in the international book arena.

Frederic Begbeder . Prose writer, publicist, literary critic and editor. His literary works, with descriptions of modern life, human throwing in the world of money and love experiences, very quickly won fans around the world. The most sensational books "Love lives for three years" and "99 francs" were even filmed. The well-deserved fame was also brought to the writer by the novels “Memoirs of an Unreasonable Young Man”, “Vacations in a Coma”, “Tales under Ecstasy”, “Romantic Egoist”. Over time, Begbeder founded his own literary prize, the Flora Prize.

Michel Houellebecq . One of the most widely read French writers of the early 21st century. His books have been translated into a good three dozen languages, he is extremely popular among young people. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the writer managed to touch on the sore points of modern life. His novel "Elementary Particles" (1998) received the "Grand Prix", "Map and Territory" (2010) - the Goncourt Prize. They were followed by The Platform, Lanzarote, The Possibility of the Island, and others, and each of these books became a bestseller.

Writer's new novel"Submission" tells about the collapse in the near future of the modern political system of France. The author himself defined the genre of his novel as "political fiction". The action takes place in 2022. A Muslim president comes to power democratically, and the country begins to change before our eyes...

Bernard Werber . Cult science fiction writer and philosopher. His name on the cover of the book means only one thing - a masterpiece! The total world circulation of his books is more than 10 million! The writer is best known for the trilogy "Ants", "Thanatonauts", "We, the Gods" and "The Third Mankind". His books have been translated into many languages, and seven novels have become bestsellers in Russia, Europe, America and Korea. The author has a lot of literary awards, incl. Jules Verne Prize.

One of the author's most sensational books -"Empire of Angels" , where fantasy, mythology, mysticism and the real life of the most ordinary people are intertwined. The main character of the novel goes to heaven, passes the "last judgment" and becomes an angel on Earth. According to heavenly rules, he is given three human clients, whose lawyer he must later become at the Last Judgment...

Guillaume Musso . A relatively young writer, very popular among French readers. Each of his new works becomes a bestseller, films are made based on his works. Deep psychologism, piercing emotionality and vivid figurative language of books fascinate readers all over the world. The action of his adventure-psychological novels takes place all over the world - in France, the USA and other countries. Following the heroes, readers go on adventures full of dangers, investigate mysteries, plunge into the abyss of the heroes' passions, which, of course, gives a reason to look into their inner world.

At the heart of the writer's new novel"Because I love you" is a family tragedy. Mark and Nicole were happy until their little daughter - the only, long-awaited and adored child - disappeared ...

Mark Levy . One of the most famous novelists, whose works have been translated into dozens of languages ​​and printed in huge numbers. The writer is a laureate of the national Goya Prize. Steven Spielberg paid $2 million for the film rights to his first novel, Between Heaven and Earth.

Literary critics note the versatility of the author's work. In his books - "Seven Days of Creation", "Meet Again", "Everyone Wants to Love", "Leave to Return", "Stronger than Fear", etc. - the theme of selfless love and sincere friendship, the secrets of old mansions and intrigue is often found , reincarnation and mysticism, unexpected twists in storylines.

Writer's new book"She and he" is one of the best novels of 2015. This romantic story is about irresistible and unpredictable love.

Anna Gavalda . A famous writer who conquered the world with her novels and their exquisite, poetic style. She is called the "star of French literature" and "the new Françoise Sagan". Her books have been translated into dozens of languages, marked by a constellation of awards, performances are staged and films are made on them. Each of her works is a story about love and how it adorns every person.
In 2002, the first novel of the writer was published - "I loved her, I loved him." But this was all just a prelude to the real success that the book brought her."Just together" eclipsed in France even the novel "The Da Vinci Code" by Brown.This is an amazingly wise and kind book about love and loneliness, about life and, of course, happiness.

French literature is one of the treasures of world culture. It deserves to be read in all countries and in all ages. The problems that French writers raised in their works have always worried people, and the time will never come when they will leave the reader indifferent. Eras, historical surroundings, costumes of characters change, but passions, the essence of relations between men and women, their happiness and suffering remain unchanged. The tradition of the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was continued by modern French writers, writers of the XX century.

Commonality of Russian and French Literary Schools

What do we know about European masters of the word in relation to the recent past? Of course, many countries have made a significant contribution to the common cultural heritage. Great books were also written by Britain, Germany, Austria, Spain, but in terms of the number of outstanding works, Russian and French writers, of course, occupy the first places. The list of them (both books and authors) is truly huge. It is no wonder that there are multiple publications, there are many readers, and today, in the age of the Internet, the list of adaptations is also impressive. What is the secret of this popularity? Both Russia and France have long-standing humanistic traditions. At the head of the plot, as a rule, is not a historical event, no matter how outstanding it is, but a person, with his passions, virtues, shortcomings, and even weaknesses and vices. The author does not undertake to condemn his characters, but prefers to leave the reader to draw his own conclusions about which fate to choose. He even pities those of them who chose the wrong path. There are many examples.

How Flaubert felt sorry for his Madame Bovary

Gustave Flaubert was born on December 12, 1821 in Rouen. The monotony of provincial life was familiar to him from childhood, and even in his mature years he rarely left his town, only once having made a long journey to the East (Algiers, Tunisia), and, of course, visited Paris. This French poet and writer composed poems that seemed to many critics then (there is such an opinion today) too melancholy and languid. In 1857, he wrote the novel Madame Bovary, which was notorious at the time. The story of a woman who sought to break out of the hateful circle of everyday life and therefore cheated on her husband then seemed not only controversial, but even indecent.

However, this plot, alas, is quite frequent in life, performed by the great master, far goes beyond the usual obscene anecdote. Flaubert tries, and with great success, to penetrate into the psychology of his characters, towards whom he sometimes feels anger, expressed in merciless satire, but more often - pity. His heroine dies tragically, the despised and loving husband, apparently (this is more likely to be guessed by what is indicated in the text) knows about everything, but sincerely grieves, mourning the unfaithful wife. Both Flaubert and other French writers of the 19th century devoted quite a lot of works to issues of fidelity and love.

Maupassant

With the light hand of many literary writers, he is considered almost the founder of romantic erotica in literature. This opinion is based on some moments in his works containing immodest, by the standards of the 19th century, descriptions of scenes of an intimate nature. From today's art criticism positions, these episodes look quite decent and, in general, are justified by the plot. Moreover, in the novels, stories and short stories of this remarkable writer, this is not at all the main thing. The first place in importance is again occupied by relationships between people and such personal qualities as depravity, the ability to love, forgive and just be happy. Like other famous French writers, Maupassant studies the human soul and reveals the necessary conditions for his freedom. He is tormented by the hypocrisy of "public opinion" created precisely by those who themselves are by no means impeccable, but impose their ideas of decency on everyone.

For example, in the story "Zolotar" he describes the story of the touching love of a French soldier for a black resident of the colony. His happiness did not take place, his relatives did not understand his feelings and were afraid of the possible condemnation of the neighbors.

Interesting are the writer's aphorisms about war, which he likens to a shipwreck, and which should be avoided by all world leaders with the same caution as ship captains are afraid of reefs. Maupassant shows observation, opposing low self-esteem to excessive complacency, considering both of these qualities to be harmful.

Zola

No less, and, perhaps, much more shocked the readership of the French writer Emile Zola. He willingly took the life of courtesans (The Trap, Nana), the inhabitants of the social bottom (The Womb of Paris) as the basis for the plot, described in detail the hard life of coal miners (Germinal) and even the psychology of a murderous maniac (Man-Beast). ). The general literary form chosen by the author is unusual.

He combined most of his works into a twenty-volume collection, which received the general name "Rougon-Macquart". With all the variety of plots and expressive forms, it is something that should be taken as a whole. However, any of Zola's novels can be read separately, which will not make it less interesting.

Jules Verne, fantasy

Another French writer, Jules Verne, needs no introduction, he became the founder of the genre, which later received the definition of "science fiction". What did this amazing storyteller not think of when he foresaw the appearance of nuclear submarines, torpedoes, lunar rockets and other modern attributes that became the property of mankind only in the twentieth century. Many of his fantasies may seem naive today, but novels are easy to read, and this is their main advantage.

In addition, the plots of modern Hollywood blockbusters about dinosaurs resurrected from oblivion look much less plausible than the story of the antediluvian lizards that never died out on a single Latin American plateau, found by brave travelers (“The Lost World”). And the novel about how the Earth screamed from a ruthless prick with a giant needle completely goes beyond the genre, being perceived as a prophetic parable.

Hugo

The French writer Hugo is no less fascinating in his novels. His characters find themselves in a variety of circumstances, showing bright personality traits. Even negative characters (for example, Javert from Les Misérables or Claude Frollo from Notre Dame Cathedral) have a certain charm.

The historical component of the narrative is also important, from which the reader will learn with ease and interest many useful facts, in particular, about the circumstances of the French Revolution and Bonapartism in France. Jean Voljean from "Les Misérables" became the personification of ingenuous nobility and honesty.

Exupery

Modern French writers, and literary critics include all the writers of the “Heminway-Fitzgerald” era, have also done a lot to make humanity wiser and kinder. The twentieth century did not indulge Europeans in peaceful decades, and memories of the Great War of 1914-1918 soon received a reminiscence in the form of another global tragedy.

The French writer Exupery, a romantic, the creator of the unforgettable image of the Little Prince and a military pilot, did not stand aside from the struggle of honest people around the world against fascism. The posthumous popularity of this writer in the USSR of the fifties and sixties could be envied by many pop stars who performed songs, including those dedicated to his memory and his main character. And today, the thoughts expressed by a boy from another planet still call for kindness and responsibility for their actions.

Dumas, son and father

There were actually two of them, father and son, and both wonderful French writers. Who is not familiar with the famous Musketeers and their faithful friend D'Artagnan? Numerous film adaptations have glorified these characters, but none of them has been able to convey the charm of the literary source. The fate of the prisoner of If Castle will not leave anyone indifferent ("The Count of Monte Cristo"), and other works are very interesting. They will also be useful for young people whose personal development is just beginning; there are more than enough examples of true nobility in the novels of Dumas Père.

As for the son, he also did not disgrace the famous surname. The novels "Doctor Servan", "Three Strong Men" and other works brightly highlighted the peculiarities and bourgeois features of contemporary society, and "The Lady with the Camellias" not only enjoyed well-deserved reader success, but also inspired the Italian composer Verdi to write the opera "La Traviata", she formed the basis of her libretto.

Simenon

The detective story will always be one of the most read genres. The reader is interested in everything in it - and who committed the crime, and motives, and evidence, and the indispensable exposure of the perpetrators. But detective detective strife. One of the best writers of the modern era, of course, is Georges Simenon, the creator of the unforgettable image of Maigret, the Paris police commissioner. The artistic technique itself is quite common in world literature, the image of an intellectual detective with an indispensable feature of appearance and a recognizable habit has been repeatedly exploited.

Maigret Simenon differs from many of his "colleagues" again in the kindness and sincerity characteristic of French literature. He is sometimes ready to meet a stumbled person and even (oh, horror!) violate individual formal articles of the law, while remaining faithful to him in the main thing, not in the letter, in his spirit ("And yet the hazel is green").

Just a wonderful writer.

gra

If we ignore the past centuries and again mentally return to the present, then the French writer Cedric Gras deserves attention, a great friend of our country, who devoted two books to the Russian Far East and its inhabitants. Having seen many exotic regions of the planet, he became interested in Russia, lived in it for many years, learned the language, which undoubtedly helps him to get to know the notorious “mysterious soul”, about which he is already finishing writing the third book on the same topic. Here, Gras found something that, apparently, he lacked so much in his prosperous and comfortable homeland. He is attracted by some “strangeness” (from the point of view of a European) of the national character, the desire of men to be courageous, their recklessness and openness. For the Russian reader, the French writer Cédric Gras is interested precisely in this “view from the outside”, which is gradually becoming more and more ours.

Sartre

Perhaps there is no other French writer so close to the Russian heart. Much in his work is reminiscent of another great literary figure of all times and peoples - Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. The first novel by Jean-Paul Sartre Nausea (many consider it the best) affirmed the concept of freedom as an internal category, not subject to external circumstances, to which a person is doomed by the very fact of his birth.

The position of the author was confirmed not only by his novels, essays and plays, but also by his personal behavior, demonstrating complete independence. A man of leftist views, he nevertheless criticized the policies of the USSR in the post-war period, which did not prevent him, in turn, from refusing the prestigious Nobel Prize awarded for supposedly anti-Soviet publications. For the same reasons, he did not accept the Order of the Legion of Honor. Such a nonconformist deserves respect and attention, he is certainly worth reading.

Vive la France!

The article does not mention many other outstanding French writers, not because they are less deserving of love and attention. You can talk about them endlessly, enthusiastically and enthusiastically, but until the reader picks up the book himself, opens it, he does not fall under the spell of wonderful lines, sharp thoughts, humor, sarcasm, light sadness and kindness radiated by the pages . There are no mediocre peoples, but there are, of course, outstanding ones who have made a special contribution to the world treasury of culture. For those who love Russian literature, familiarization with the works of French authors will be especially pleasant and useful.

French poetry of the last century is primarily the poetry of commentary, allusion, hidden internal connections, believes translator Mikhail Yasnov

Text and collage: Year of Literature. RF

A few months ago, the educational project "Arzamas" published a large material entitled "How to read American poets of the 20th century." We liked it extremely, but left a feeling of some incompleteness: why only American poets? Unlike pop music or cinema, other, non-American, poetic traditions are quite alive and have sharp distinctive features.
We asked poet-translators who study these features constantly to tell about them. And, more importantly, passing them through themselves. The first to respond was a children's poet and translator of contemporary French poetry. Which, as follows from his detailed text, is not at all the same thing.

Cendrars/Deguis: Poetry = commentary
(Translator's notes)

Text: Mikhail Yasnov

Classical French poetry operated with rigid poetic forms: rondo and sonnet, ode and ballad, epigram and elegy - all these types of verse were carefully developed, repeatedly and in the smallest formal details reproduced by authors who tried with the help of sophisticated technology not only to connect the past and the present , but also literally from each poem to peel out the topical meaning. As a rule, feeling prevailed over reason, revealing to the world thousands of everyday episodes that had sunk into eternity, but these little things created a real mosaic of life that has not weathered to this day, in which poetry occupies a significant, and sometimes paramount place.
From the end of the 19th century, it begins to free itself from the accumulated "ballast" and throughout the past century it has been looking for forms that are adequate to the mobile and changeable state of minds, articulating the well-known thesis of Tristan Tzara "Thought is made in the mouth", more and more consistently including elements in the field of versification, before it alien or auxiliaries. In particular, the act of poetry loses its meaning outside the biographical, real, intertextual commentary, which not only coexists with a specific poetic gesture, but often forms an essential part of it, turning the poem into a game of intellect.

The two poems we will focus on are separated by half a century. The term is historically short. But this half of the twentieth century is the most destructive and innovative in French poetry.

1. CANDRAR (1887-1961)

(1887-1961) - Swiss and French writer / en.wikipedia.org

The poem "Hammock" is included (under the seventh number) in the cycle of Blaise Cendrars "Nineteen Elastic Poems", published as a separate book in 1919. Most of the texts appeared in the periodicals of 1913-1918, but were written mainly in 1913-1914. ("Hammock" - in December 1913), in the era of "pre-war avant-garde" - l'avant-garde d'avant gerre, according to the game formula of the commentator Cendrars Marie-Paul Béranger, and at the first journal publications (1914 and 1918) bore the names "Apollinaire" and "".
In the study "Apollinaire and Co." the literary critic Jean-Louis Cornille shows that this poem is directly related to Apollinaire's poem "Through Europe" - Á travers l'Europe (both were published in periodicals in the spring of 1914), in particular, with the intention of Cendrars to ironically beat the "darkness" of Apollinaire's text, but not so much deciphering it as exacerbating it with new connotations.

Guillaume Apollinaire(1880-1918) - French poet, one of the most influential figures of the European avant-garde of the early 20th century / ru.wikipedia.org

Apollinaire's poem is an attempt by means of poetic speech to convey the painting of Marc Chagall, with whom both poets were friends. Cendrars picks up and "plays out" Apollinaire's allusions.

In particular, according to J.-L. Karnil, the name "Hamac" ("Hamac") is an anagram of Apollinaire's dedication of his poem (A M. Ch.): Cendrars parodically rearranges the four letters of the dedication, turning them into a new word (A.M.C.H. - HAMAC)
An even greater amplitude of possible readings is caused by the first lines of both poetic texts ( "Rotsoge / Ton visage ecarlate..." at Apollinaire and «Onoto-visage…» at Cendrars). The exotic Rotsoge, preceding the further portrait of Chagall (Ton visage écarlate - Your crimson face ...), is then interpreted as a translation from the German rot + Sog ("red trail behind the stern of the ship"- a hint at the artist's red hair), then as rote + Аuge ( "Red eye"), then as a translation of the German word Rotauge - “rudd”, a word similar to a friendly nickname. Just as the first line of Cendrars' poem, phonetically playing on the beginning of Apollinaire, is transformed into Onoto-visage, suggesting to the translator his playful allusion ( "It-that-face"). The first poem is perceived as a pretext, the second as a reminiscence, an ironic remark in a conversation.

Henri Rousseau
"Muse that inspires the poet" Portrait of Guillaume Apollinaire and his beloved Marie Laurencin. 1909

The whole poem is a chain of allusions to the relationship between Cendrars and Apollinaire, or rather, to the relationship of Cendrars to Apollinaire: "Hammock" is a swing between admiration and rivalry.

It is known that Cendrars sent his first poem "Easter in New York", written in America in April 1912 and completed in the summer after returning to Paris, to Guillaume Apollinaire in November. AND

here begins a mysterious story that darkened relations between poets for many years.

Either Apollinaire did not receive the manuscript of the poem, or he pretended that he did not receive it - in any case, two months later she returned to Cendrars by mail without any notes. This was the time when Apollinaire wrote his "Zone", intonationally, psychologically, and in many purely poetic moves reminiscent of "Easter", and this, in turn, determined the long-term discussions of French researchers about the "primacy" of this or that poem. Nevertheless, at the very least, the poets became friends, and after the death of Apollinaire, Cendrars paid tribute to him by writing that all the poets of our time speak his language - the language of Guillaume Apollinaire. In the last three lines of the poem "Hammock" Cendrars also seems to pay tribute to Apollinaire, but these three lines, like epitaphs on a tombstone, look like "remarkably cheeky"; their author emphasizes that, starting from 1912 year (that is, from the date of writing "Easter"), "the only French poet" lost his championship, since there are now two of them "first" - he and Cendrars.

Thus, poetry becomes a text for initiates. At the same time, the necessary comments branch out, including a decoding of the realities, sometimes very confusing, -

as, for example, the "confusing time" of the Saint-Lazare station: the reader should know that in the late XIX - early XX centuries. at the Paris stations there was an "external" and "internal" time. So, at the Saint-Lazare station, the clock in the train departure hall showed the exact Paris time, and the clock installed directly on the platforms showed the time the train was late.

(fr. Marie Laurencin, 1883-1956) - French artist / en.wikipedia.org

So, reality. Sandrare's mention of "Oxo-Liebig" refers to the famous Liebig Meat Extract company at the beginning of the century, which produced this popular product developed by a German chemist Justus von Liebig(1803-1873) back in the forties of the XIX century. Liebig founded the world's first production of bouillon cubes, which was later joined by another fast food company, Okso. But the main thing that the reader of Sndrar should have known was that at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. color posters advertising this company were in great fashion, which served as decorative decorations for the premises. Hence the line "The skies of your room are adorned with Oxo Liebig".

By the will of Cendrars, the reader should also know that Apollinaire was a connoisseur of secret and erotic literature, a collector of "book libertinage";

in the poet’s house, “books rise like a flyover”, from which “at random” you can pull out some volume of obscene content, for example, the novel “Julie, or My Saved Rose” - the first French erotic novel written by a woman and attributed to the writer Felicite de Choiseul-Meuse(1807); again, at the behest of Cendrars, the title of the novel in the text of his poem takes on the opposite meaning of the content: "Julie, or My Lost Rose."

"Apollinaire and his friends", 1909

“You have long worked in the shadow of the famous painting / Dreaming of the Arabesque…”- continues Cendrars, recalling the painting of the Customs Officer Rousseau "Muse inspiring the poet" (1909), which also depicts Guillaume Apollinaire. At the same time, it would be good to remember that Apollinaire more than once associated the painting of Marie Laurencin with arabesques. In particular, in an essay dedicated to her work, it was included in G. Apollinaire's book “On Painting. Cubist artists "(1913) - the poet says that Laurencin "created canvases on which whimsical arabesques turned into graceful figures" and notes: “Women's art, the art of Mademoiselle Laurencin, strives to become a pure arabesque, humanized by careful observance of the laws of nature; being expressive, it ceases to be a simple element of decor, but at the same time remains just as delightful". Finally, the cryptic line "Sweet Williams Poet's Carnation" through Sweet Williams - the English name for the Turkish carnation - refers us to, in which Sweet Williams (Dear William) is one of the traditional names of a romantic hero.

2. DEGI (b. 1930)

Michel Degui(fr. Michel Deguy, 1930) - French poet, essayist, translator/en/wikipedia.org

Michel Degui loves and knows how to talk about poetry in all its manifestations, likes to explain his own poems - either in the poems themselves or in numerous interviews and articles - rigorously emphasizing his main predilection: nesting in the language. Language is the home of his metaphors, he repeats this in every way: “A poem with a special glow of an eclipse - an eclipse of being - reveals everything (things that are partially named and refer to everything) and light as well, namely: speech.”
It is echoed by researchers.

“Degi is one of those poets who perceive what is written not only as a synonym for the word “say”, but also the word “do”,

(Italian Andrea Zanzotto; 1921-2011) - Italian poet / en.wikipedia.org

Remarks in the preface to Degas' collection Tombstones (1985) Andrea Zanzotto. Everything is one in the language - writing, speaking, doing; each sound testifies in favor of the next.
Degi has been exploring all his life "unclear areas" poetic speech, what he himself calls "doubling, binding" opposites - identity and difference, immanence and transcendence. This is poetics, the heroes of which are not so much objects, phenomena or circumstances of human life as numerous connections and relationships between them. Here, any way of designation can give rise to poetry. In a world where addition, connotation, i.e., comments are often more important than the immediate object, allusions and analogies take on living features; they have their own dramaturgy, their own theatre:

Degi hears and uses poetry as a kind of “basic metaphorical statute”: “Poetry, to match love, risks everything in the name of signs,” he writes in one of the poems. “My life is the mystery of how,” says another. "Poetry is a rite," he formulates in the third.

Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud(1854-1891) - French poet/en.wikipedia.org

He does not need to name his literary predecessors. If, for example, he writes "it's time for purgatory" (la saison en purgatoire), then this is a transparent reference to Rimbaud to "Time in Hell" (Une saison en enfaire). Extremely important for the poetics of Degas Apollinaire (and before and through him - Mallarme) can appear on the pages of his books at several levels - from quotation variations ( "The Seine was green in your hand / Beyond the Mirabeau Bridge...") to rhythmic assimilation, dictating the structure of a poetic phrase:

Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine…
(The Seine disappears under the Mirabeau Bridge...)
Les grands vents féodaux courent la terre…
(Under the omnipotence of the winds, the lands droop ...)

The appeal to the "literary past" becomes the same way of studying the present, as the very reference to the same Apollinaire - the object of work "inside" the language.

Poetry becomes a commentary on itself.

Stéphane Mallarmé(French Stéphane Mallarmé) (1842-1898) - French poet who became one of the leaders of the Symbolists. Referred by Paul Verlaine to the number of "damned poets" / ru.wikipedia.org

Actually, the totality of Degas's work (he would say: "essence" - l'être-ensemble des œuvres) can be represented as the richest object of such work. Examples from Degas could illustrate the vocabulary of linguistic terms. The figures of his poetic speech - from the simplest skipping of links, semantic assonances (as, for example, a doublet played many times seul / seuil - threshold / lonely) or a virtuoso verbal game with the very word "word" to the most complex designations of deep hermeticism - become a panorama of modern poetic polystylistics.
First, it would be said that Degas, following the ramified tradition of the twentieth century, destroys the language. However, the condensation of suggestion leads to new forms of poetic expression. Thus, in one of the characteristic poems of the “Help-memory” cycle, he decomposes the word commun (“general”) into comme un (“as one”), once again emphasizing that poetry is the being of the word and the concept of comme - “how”. This is the path to the expansion of the metaphorical picture of the world, to that fourth dimension, which the great lyricists of the past dreamed of.

Paul Valery(fr. Paul Valéry 1871-1945) - French poet, essayist, philosopher / en.wikipedia.org

In this picture, a mixture of genres and types of writing is fundamentally important for Degas - poems and marginal notes, multi-page essays and short rhymed metaphors. The main thing is a mixture of poetry and prose, prosème; in his poetics, the development of one into another occurs naturally, the boundaries are erased, a theoretical treatise can end with a poetic miniature, a lyrical quatrain - with a political manifesto. Fragments re-create the whole, which breaks up into fragments - but does not disincarnate.
Your own idea ("Modern literature, he says, seems to be marked Valerie hesitation between"; between prose and poetry, for example) Degas devoted a separate article “The Shuffling of a Broom on the Street of Prose”, in which, in particular, he noted: “A modern poet is a poet-organizer (poetizer) of his own free will. He likes to spin in the wheel (and with the wheel) that closes the thought of poetics and the poetics of thought.Poetics - "poetic art", explained by the interest in the poem and in its composition - combines and articulates two main ingredients: formality with revelation.

The convergence of poetry with philosophy, its flow into essayism, the restoration of missing links on a different, mental level, create a special logic of the poetic text, when "inside comment"(read: intellect) becomes a source of living passions and ultimately returns us to earthly sorrows and joys, emphasizing the eternal readiness of poetry to be called upon to help the soul and memory.

NOTES

Berranger M.-P. commente "Du monde entier au cœur du monde" de Blaise Cendrare. Paris, 2007. P. 95.
Cornille J.-L. Apollinaire et Cie. Paris, 2000. P. 133.
Bohn W. Orthographe et interprétation des mots étrangers chez Apollinaire. Que Vlo-Ve? Serie 1 No. 27, January 1981, P. 28-29. See also: Hyde-Greet A. “Rotsoge”: à travers Chagall. Que Vlo Ve? Sèrie 1 No. 21-22, jullet-octobre 1979, Actes du colloque de Stavelot, 1975. P. 6.
Cornille J.-L. P. 134.
Berranger M.-P. R. 87.
Leroy C. Dossier // Cendrars Blaise. Poesies completes. Paris, 2005. P. 364.
Angelier M. Le voyage en train au temps des compagnies, 1832-1937. Paris, 1999. P. 139).
Apollinaire G. Mlle Marie Laurencin // Œuvres en prose complètes. V. 2. Paris, 1991. P. 34.39.
Zanzotto A. Préface a Gisants // Deguy M. Gisants. Poemes I-III. Paris, 1999. P. 6.