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 well with the French, so I’ll ask connoisseurs - what do you think of the list, what you read/didn’t read from it, what would you add/remove to it?

1. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - “The Little Prince”

The most famous work of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry with original drawings. A wise and “humane” fairy tale-parable, which simply and heartfeltly talks about the most important things: about friendship and love, about duty and loyalty, about 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 gleaned by Alexandre Dumas from the archives of the Parisian police. The true 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 hometown to bring justice - to take revenge on those who destroyed his life.

3. Gustave Flaubert - “Madame Bovary”

The main character - Emma Bovary - suffers from the inability to fulfill her dreams of a brilliant, social life full of romantic passions. Instead, she is forced to eke out a monotonous existence as the wife of a poor provincial doctor. The painful atmosphere of the outback suffocates Emma, ​​but all her attempts to break out of the bleak world are doomed to failure: her boring husband cannot satisfy his wife’s demands, and her outwardly romantic and attractive lovers are in fact 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 is dedicated to proving this thesis. turn of XIX-XX centuries. It belongs to the pen of Gaston Leroux, a master of the police novel, author of the famous “The Secret of the Yellow Room”, “The Scent of a 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 the ordinary seducer and playmaker Georges Duroy, developing in the spirit of an adventure novel, becomes a symbolic reflection of the spiritual impoverishment of the hero and society.

6. Simone De Beauvoir - “The Second Sex”

Two volumes of the book “The Second Sex” 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 entire range of problems associated with women. What is “women’s destiny”, what is behind the concept of “natural purpose of gender”, how and why the position of a woman in this world differs from the position of a man, is a woman in principle capable of becoming a full-fledged person, and if so, then under what conditions, what circumstances limit a woman’s freedom and how to overcome them.

7. Cholerlo de Laclos - “Dangerous Liaisons”

“Dangerous Liaisons” is one of the most striking novels of the 18th century - the only book by Choderlos de Laclos, a French artillery officer. The heroes of the erotic novel, the Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil, start a sophisticated intrigue, wanting to take revenge on their opponents. Having developed a cunning strategy and tactics for seducing the young girl Cecile de Volanges, they masterfully play the 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 poet’s collection “Flowers of Evil,” which made his name famous, and the brilliant essay “The School of the Pagans.” The book is preceded by an article by the remarkable Russian poet Nikolai Gumilyov, and ends with a rarely published essay on Baudelaire by the outstanding French poet and thinker Paul Valéry.

9. Stendhal - “The Parma Abode”

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

10. Andre Gide - “The Counterfeiters”

A novel that is significant both for the work of Andre 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 fundamental in the work of the existentialists. The tangled relationships of three families - representatives of the big bourgeoisie, united by crime, vice and a labyrinth of self-destructive passions, become the backdrop for the coming-of-age story 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 made an invaluable contribution to world literature. From the existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre to Flaubert's commentary on society, France is well known for bringing examples to the world literary geniuses. Thanks to many famous sayings that quote literary masters from France, there is a good chance that you are very familiar with, or at least have 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 have ever lived. Most likely you have read or at least heard about these famous French writers.

Honore de Balzac, 1799-1850

Balzac is a French writer and playwright. One of his most famous works " Human Comedy”, became his first real taste of success in the literary world. In fact, his personal life became more about trying something and failing than 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 classic example realism. A story of King Lear set in 1820s Paris, Père Goriot is Balzac's reflection of a money-loving society.

Samuel Beckett, 1906-1989

Samuel Beckett is actually Irish, but he wrote mostly 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 involvement in the French Resistance during World War II, when he was under German occupation. Although Beckett published widely, he was most renowned 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 the play that Rostand wrote about him called Cyrano de Bergerac. The play has been staged and made into films many times. The plot is well known: Cyrano loves Roxanne, but stops courting her so that on behalf of his not so eloquent friend read your poems to her. Rostand is most likely embellishing real characteristics de Bergerac's life, although he really was a phenomenal swordsman and a delightful poet.

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

Albert Camus, 1913-1960

Albert Camus is an Algerian-born author who received the Nobel Prize for 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 two most famous novels are absurd: L "Étranger (The Stranger) and Le Mythe de Sisyphe (The Myth of Sisyphus). He was perhaps best known as a philosopher and his works are a reflection of the life of that time. In fact, he wanted to become footballer, but contracted tuberculosis at the age of 17 and was bedridden for a long period of time.

Victor Hugo, 1802-1885

Victor Hugo would call himself primarily a humanist who used literature to describe the conditions 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 (Les Miserables), and Notre-Dame de Paris (Notre Dame Cathedral is also known by its popular title, 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, which describe the dangerous adventures of heroes. Dumas was a prolific writer 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, became perhaps his most famous work. It was originally published as a series of novellas, 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 to write 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

Moliere
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 was, and continues to be, the driving force of philosophy. Paris is fertile ground for the newest ideas, philosophies and movements the world has ever seen.

Famous French writers

Famous French writers have made invaluable contributions to the world
literature. From the existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre to commentaries on
Flaubert Society, France is well known for the phenomenon of world examples
literary geniuses. Thanks to the many famous sayings that
quote 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 works of literature have appeared
in France. While this list is hardly comprehensive, it does contain some
one of the greatest literary masters who ever lived. Quicker
everything you have read or at least heard about these famous French
writers.

Honore de Balzac, 1799-1850

Balzac is a French writer and playwright. One of his most famous
works "The Human Comedy" became his first real taste of success in
literary world. In fact, his personal life became more of an attempt
trying something and failing rather than actually succeeding. He, according to
according to many literary critics, is considered one of
"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, taking place in the 1820s in Paris, the book "Père Goriot" is
Balzac's reflection of a money-loving society.

Samuel Beckett, 1906-1989

Samuel Beckett is actually Irish, but he mostly wrote
in French, because he lived in Paris, moving there in 1937. He
considered the last great modernist and some argue that he is
the first postmodernist. Particularly outstanding in his personal life was
participation in the French Resistance during World War II,
when it was under German occupation. Although Beckett published a lot,
he most of all 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 the play that was
written about him by Rostand under the title "Cyrano de Bergerac". play
It has been staged and made into films many times. The plot is familiar: Cyrano
loves Roxana, but stops courting her so as not to
such an eloquent friend to read his poems to her. Rostand most likely
embellishes the real characteristics of de Bergerac's life, although he
he truly was a phenomenal swordsman and a delightful poet.
It can be said that his poetry is more famous than Rostand's play. By
He is described as having an extremely large nose, of which he was very proud.

Albert Camus, 1913-1960

Albert Camus is an author of Algerian origin who received
Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. He was the first African
who achieved this, and the second youngest writer in history
literature. Despite the fact that he is associated with existentialism, Camus
rejects any labels. His two most famous novels are absurd:
L "Étranger (The Stranger) and Le Mythe de Sisyphe (The Myth of Sisyphus). He was,
perhaps best known as a philosopher and his works - 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 call himself first and foremost a humanist who used
literature to describe the conditions of human life and injustice
society. Both of these themes can be easily seen in two of his most famous
works: Les misèrables (Les Miserables), and Notre-Dame de Paris (The 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 depict dangerous
adventures of heroes. Dumas was prolific in writing and many of his
The stories are still retold today:
Three Musketeers
Count of Montecristo
The Man in the Iron Mask
The Nutcracker (made famous through Tchaikovsky's ballet version)

Gustave Flaubert 1821-1880

His first published novel, Madame Bovary, became 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, here
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

There are many other great French writers:

Moliere
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 was, and continues to be, the driving force of 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 French, spoken by more than 200 million people around the world.

We took advantage of this opportunity and propose to remember the best French writers of our time, representing France in the international book arena.

Frederic Beigbeder . Prose writer, publicist, literary critic and editor. His literary works, with descriptions of modern life, human struggles 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 novels “Memoirs of an Unreasonable Young Man”, “Holidays in a Coma”, “Stories on Ecstasy”, “Romantic Egoist” also brought well-deserved fame to the writer. Over time, Beigbeder founded his own literary award, 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, and he is extremely popular among young people. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the writer managed to touch on the pain points of modern life. His novel “Elementary Particles” (1998) received the Grand Prix, and “Map and Territory” (2010) received the Prix Goncourt. They were followed by “Platform”, “Lanzarote”, “The Possibility of an Island”, etc., and each of these books became a bestseller.

The writer's new novel"Submission" tells of the collapse of the modern political system of France in the near future. 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 worldwide circulation of his books is more than 10 million! The writer is best known for the trilogies “Ants”, “Thanatonautes”, “We Gods” and “The Third Humanity”. 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 to his credit literary prizes, incl. Jules Verne Prize.

One of the most sensational books of the writer -"Empire of Angels" , where fantasy, mythology, mysticism and the real life of ordinary people intertwine. The main character of the novel goes to heaven, undergoes the “Last Judgment” and becomes an angel on Earth. According to heavenly rules, he is given three human clients, whose lawyer he must subsequently become the Last Judgment…

Guillaume Musso . A relatively young writer, very popular among French readers. Each of his new works becomes a bestseller, and films are made based on his works. The deep psychologism, piercing emotionality and vivid figurative language of the books fascinate readers all over the world. The action of his adventure and 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.

Based on the writer's new novel"Because I love you" - the tragedy of one family. Mark and Nicole were happy until their little daughter - their 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 published in huge editions. The writer is a laureate of the national Goya Prize. Steven Spielberg paid two million dollars for the rights to film 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 encountered , reincarnation and mysticism, unexpected twists in storylines.

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

Anna Gavalda . A famous writer who captivated the world with her novels and their exquisite, poetic style. She is called the “star of French literature” and “the new Francoise Sagan.” Her books have been translated into dozens of languages, awarded a whole constellation of awards, and they have been used for performances and films. Each of her works is a story about love and how it adorns every person.
In 2002, the writer’s first novel, “I Loved Her, I Loved Him,” was published. But this was all just a prelude to the real success that the book brought her"Just together" , which eclipsed even Brown’s novel “The Da Vinci Code” in France.This is amazingly wise and good book about love and loneliness, about life and, of course, happiness.

French literature is one of the treasuries of world culture. It deserves to be read in all countries and in all centuries. 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. Epochs, historical settings, costumes of characters change, but passions, the essence of relationships 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 and literary figures of the 20th century.

Commonality of Russian and French literary schools

What do we know about European wordsmiths in the relatively recent past? Of course, many countries have made a significant contribution to the overall cultural heritage. Great books were also written by Britain, Germany, Austria, and Spain, but in terms of the number of outstanding works, the first places are, of course, occupied by Russian and French writers. The list of them (both books and authors) is truly huge. It’s no wonder that there are multiple publications, there are many readers, and today, in the age of the Internet, the list of film adaptations is also impressive. What is the secret of this popularity? In both Russia and France there are long-standing humanistic traditions. The focus of the plot, as a rule, is not historical event, no matter how outstanding it may be, but a person, with his passions, advantages, disadvantages and even weaknesses and vices. The author does not undertake to condemn his characters, but prefers to let the reader draw his own conclusions about what 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. Monotone provincial life was familiar to him from childhood, and even in his adult years he rarely left his town, only once making a long trip to the East (Algeria, Tunisia), and, of course, visiting Paris. This French poet and writer wrote poems that seemed to many critics then (this opinion still exists today) to be too melancholic and languid. In 1857, he wrote the novel Madame Bovary, which became 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 just controversial, but even indecent.

However, this plot, alas, is quite common in life, performed by the great master, and goes far beyond the scope of 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 than indicated by the text) knows about everything, but sincerely grieves, mourning his unfaithful wife. Both Flaubert and other French writers of the 19th century devoted quite a lot of their works to issues of fidelity and love.

Maupassant

With the light hand of many literary writers he is considered almost the founder of romantic eroticism 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 historical perspective, these episodes look quite decent and, in general, are justified by the plot. Moreover, this is not the main thing in the novels, novels and stories of this wonderful writer. The first place in importance is again occupied by relationships between people and such personal qualities as depravity, the ability to love, forgive and simply be happy. Like other famous French writers, Maupassant studies the human soul and identifies 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 “Golden Man” he describes the story of the touching love of a French soldier for a black resident of the colony. His happiness did not materialize; his relatives did not understand his feelings and were afraid of possible condemnation from their neighbors.

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

Zola

No less, and perhaps much more shocking to the reading public was the French writer Emile Zola. He willingly based the plot on the life of courtesans (“The Trap”, “Nana”), the inhabitants of the social bottom (“The Belly of Paris”), described in detail the hard life of coal miners (“Germinal”) and even the psychology of a murderous maniac (“The Beast Man” ). Unusual general literary form, selected by the author.

He combined most of his works into a twenty-volume collection, collectively called Rougon-Macquart. With all the variety of subjects and expressive forms, it represents something unified that should be perceived as a whole. However, any of Zola’s novels can be read separately, and this will not make it any less interesting.

Jules Verne, science fiction writer

Another French writer, Jules Verne, does not need any special introduction; he became the founder of the genre, which later received the definition of “sci-fi”. What did this amazing storyteller not think of, who foresaw the emergence 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 today may seem naive, but the 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 antediluvian dinosaurs that never went extinct on a single Latin American plateau, found by brave travelers (“ lost World"). And the novel about how the Earth screamed from a merciless prick of a giant needle completely goes beyond genre boundaries, 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, revealing bright personality traits. Even negative heroes(for example, Javert from Les Misérables or Claude Frollo from Notre Dame) have a certain charm.

The historical component of the story is also important, from which the reader learns with ease and interest many useful facts, in particular about the circumstances of the French Revolution and Bonapartism in France. Jean Voljean from Les Miserables became the personification of simple-minded nobility and honesty.

Exupery

Modern French writers, and literary scholars include all the writers of the “Heminway-Fitzgerald” era as such, have also done a lot to make humanity wiser and kinder. The twentieth century did not spoil Europeans with 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 and creator of an unforgettable image, did not remain aloof from the struggle of honest people around the world against fascism. Little Prince and a military pilot. The posthumous popularity of this writer in the USSR in the fifties and sixties could be the envy of 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 one’s actions.

Dumas, son and father

There were actually two of them, father and son, and both were wonderful French writers. Who doesn’t know the famous musketeers and their faithful friend D’Artagnan? Many film adaptations have glorified these characters, but none of them have been able to convey the charm of the literary source. The fate of the prisoner of the Chateau d'If 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 the Father.

As for the son, he also did not disgrace the famous surname. Novels "Doctor Servan", "Three strong men" and other works clearly highlighted the peculiarities and bourgeois features of his contemporary society, and "The Lady of the Camellias" not only enjoyed well-deserved readership, but also inspired the Italian composer Verdi to write the opera "La Traviata", it formed the basis of its libretto.

Simenon

Detective will always be one of the most read genres. The reader is interested in everything about it - who committed the crime, the motives, the evidence, and the inevitable exposure of the perpetrators. But there is a difference between detective and detective. One of best writers modern era, of course, is Georges Simenon, the creator of the unforgettable image of the Parisian police commissioner Maigret. The artistic device itself is quite common in world literature; the image of a detective-intellectual with an indispensable feature of his appearance and recognizable behavior has been exploited more than once.

Simenon's Maigret differs from many of his “colleagues” in the kindness and sincerity characteristic of French literature. He is sometimes ready to meet halfway people who have stumbled and even (oh, horror!) to violate certain formal articles of the law, while still remaining faithful to it in the main thing, not in the letter, in its spirit (“And yet the hazel tree turns green”).

Just a wonderful writer.

Gra

If we take a break from the past centuries and again mentally return to modern times, then the French writer Cedric Gras deserves attention, big friend our country, who dedicated two books to Russian Far East and its residents. 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 get to know the notorious “mysterious soul,” about which he is already finishing writing a third book on the same topic. Here Gra found something that, apparently, he lacked in his prosperous and comfortable homeland. He is attracted by some “strangeness” (from a European point of view) national character, the desire of men to be courageous, their recklessness and openness. For the Russian reader, the French writer Cedric Gras is interesting precisely because of this “look 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. Jean-Paul Sartre's first novel, Nausea (many consider it his 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 author's position was confirmed not only by his novels, essays and plays, but also by 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 abandoning the prestigious Nobel Prize, awarded for allegedly 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!

Many other outstanding French writers are not mentioned in the article, not because they are less deserving of love and attention. You can talk about them endlessly, enthusiastically and enthusiastically, but until the reader himself picks up the book and opens it, he does not fall under the spell of the wonderful lines, sharp thoughts, humor, sarcasm, light sadness and kindness emitted 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, it will be especially pleasant and useful to become familiar with the works of French authors.

French poetry of the last century is, first of all, poetry of commentary, allusion, hidden internal connections, says translator Mikhail Yasnov

Text and collage: Year of Literature.RF

Months ago educational project"Arzamas" published a large material entitled "How to read American poets of the 20th century." We liked it extremely, but it left us with 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 constantly study these features to tell us about them. And, more importantly, letting them pass through themselves. The first to respond - children's poet and translator of modern French poetry. Which, as follows from his detailed text, is not at all the same thing.

Cendrars/Deguy: 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, reproduced many times and in the smallest formal detail by authors who, using sophisticated technology, tried not only to connect the past and the present, but also Literally extract topical meaning from every poem. As a rule, feeling prevailed over reason, revealing to the world thousands of everyday episodes that have sunk into eternity, but from these little things a real mosaic of life, which has not faded to this day, was created, in which poetry occupies an essential and sometimes primary place.
Since the end of the 19th century, it begins to free itself from the accumulated “ballast” and throughout the last century it has been looking for forms adequate to the mobile and changeable state of minds, articulating the famous thesis of Tristan Tzara “Thought is made in the mouth”, increasingly wider and more consistently including elements in the field of poetry that were previously alien or auxiliary. In particular, the act of poetry loses its meaning without a biographical, real, intertextual commentary, which not only coexists with a specific poetic gesture, but often constitutes its essential part, turning the poem into a game of the intellect.

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

1. SANDRARD (1887-1961)

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

The poem “Hammock” is included (under number seven) in Blaise Cendrars’s cycle “Nineteen Elastic Poems,” published as a separate book in 1919. Most of the texts appeared in periodicals of 1913-1918, but were written mainly in 1913-1914. (“Hammock” - in December 1913), in the era of the “pre-war avant-garde” - l’avant-garde d’avant gerre, according to the gaming formula of the commentator Cendrars Marie-Paul Beranger, and during the first magazine publications (1914 and 1918) bore the names “Apollinaire” and “”.
In the study of Apollinaire and Co., the literary critic Jean-Louis Cornille shows that this poem, through a number of allusions and associations, 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 Cendrars’s intention to ironically play with the “darkness” of Apollinaire’s text, but not so much deciphering it as aggravating 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 to convey the painting of Marc Chagall, with whom both poets were friends, through poetic speech. Cendrars picks up and “plays out” Apollinaire’s allusions.

In particular, according to J.-L. Carnilu, the title "Hamac" is an anagram of Apollinaire's dedication to his poem (A M. Ch.): Cendrars parodicly rearranges the four letters of the dedication, turning them into a new word (A.M.C.H. - HAMAC)
The first lines of both poetic texts evoke an even greater range of possible readings ( "Rotsoge / Ton visage écarlate..." at Apollinaire and "Onoto-visage..." at Cendrars). The exotic Rotsoge, which precedes Chagall’s further portrait (Ton visage écarlate - Your crimson face...), is interpreted as a translation from German rot + Sog (“red trail behind the stern of the ship" - a hint at the artist's red hair), then as rote + Auge ( "Red eye"), then as a translation of the German word Rotauge - “rudd”, a word similar to a friendly nickname. Just like the first line of Cendrars's poem, which phonetically plays on Apollinaire's opening, is transformed into Onoto-visage, suggesting to the translator its playful allusion ( "It's-the-face"). The first poem is perceived as a pretext, the second - as a reminiscence, an ironic remark in a conversation.

Henri Rousseau
“The Muse Inspiring the Poet” Portrait of Guillaume Apollinaire and his beloved Marie Laurencin. 1909

The entire poem is a chain of allusions to the relationship between Cendrars and Apollinaire, or rather, to the relationship between Cendrars and Apollinaire: “The Hammock” is a swaying 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 upon his return to Paris, to Guillaume Apollinaire in November. AND

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

Either Apollinaire did not receive the manuscript of the poem, or pretended that he did not receive it - in any case, two months later it also returned to Cendrars by mail without any notes. This was the time when Apollinaire wrote his “Zone,” which intonationally, psychologically, and with many purely poetic moves was reminiscent of “Easter,” and this, in turn, determined many years of discussions among 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 honored him by writing that all modern poets speak his language - the language of Guillaume Apollinaire. In the last three lines of the poem “The Hammock,” Cendrars also seems to pay honor to Apollinaire, but these three lines, like an epitaph on a tombstone, look like "remarkably daring"; their author emphasizes that, starting with 1912 year (that is, from the date of writing “Easter”), "the only French poet" lost his championship, since there were now two “firsts” - he and Cendrars.

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

like, for example, the “confused time” of the Saint-Lazare station: the reader should know that in late XIX- early 20th century At Parisian train stations there was an “external” and an “internal” time. Thus, at the Saint-Lazare station, the clock in the train departure hall showed the exact Parisian time, and the clocks installed directly on the platforms showed the time the train was late.

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

So, the realities. Cendrars' 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 19th century. Liebig founded the world's first production of bouillon cubes, which was later joined by another “fast food” company, Oxo. But the main thing that the reader of Sndrar should have known is at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. Colored posters advertising this company, which served as decorative decorations for the premises, were in great fashion. Hence the line "The skies of your room are decorated with Oxo-Liebig".

By the will of Cendrars, the reader should have known that Apollinaire was a connoisseur of secret and erotic literature, a collector of “book libertinage”;

in the poet’s house, “books rise like a trestle”, from which “at random” you can pull out some volume of indecent 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, by the will of Cendrars, the title of the novel in the text of his poem takes on a meaning opposite to the content: “Julie, or My Lost Rose.”

"Apollinaire and His Friends", 1909

“You worked for a long time in the shadow of the famous painting / Dreaming of Arabesque...”- Cendrars continues, recalling the painting of the Customs Officer by Rousseau “The 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 “she 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 mystery line "Sweet Williams Carnation Poet" through Sweet Williams - the English name of the Turkish carnation - refers us to, in which Sweet Williams (Sweet William) is one of the traditional names of the romantic hero.

2. DEGI (b. 1930)

Michelle Deguy(French Michel Deguy, 1930) - French poet, essayist, translator/ru/wikipedia.org

Michel Deguy loves and knows how to talk about poetry in all its manifestations, loves to explain his own poems - either in the poems themselves or in numerous interviews and articles - strictly emphasizing his main passion: nesting in language. Language is the home of his metaphors, he repeats this in every way: “a poem in the special glow of an eclipse - an eclipse of being - reveals everything (things named partially and referring to everything) and light including, namely: speech.”
Researchers echo him.

“Deguy is one of those poets who perceives what is written not only as a synonym for the word “speak”, but also for the word “do”,

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

Remarks in the preface to Dega's collection Tombstones (1985) Andrea Zanzotto. In language everything is one - writing, speaking, doing; each sound testifies in favor of the next one.
Degi has been researching 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 human life how many connections and relationships there are between them. Here, any method of designation can give rise to the birth of poetry. In a world where addition, connotation, i.e. comments are often more important than the direct object, allusions and analogies take on living features; They have their own dramaturgy, their own theater:

Deguy hears and uses poetry as a kind of “basic metaphorical statute”: “Poetry, like love, risks everything in the name of signs,” he writes in one of the poems. “My life is a mystery of how,” he argues in another. “Poetry is a ritual,” states the third.

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

He does not need to name his literary predecessors. If, for example, he writes “it’s time to go to purgatory” (la saison en purgatoire), then this is a clear reference to Rimbaud, to “Time in Hell” (Une saison en enfaire). Apollinaire, extremely important for Degas’ poetics (and before and through him - Mallarmé) can appear on the pages of his books on several levels - from quotation variations ( “The Seine was green in your hand / There 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...)

Appeal to the “literary past” becomes the same way of studying modernity as the very same reference to Apollinaire becomes an object of work “inside” language.

Poetry becomes a commentary on itself.

Stefan Mallarmé(French Stéphane Mallarmé) (1842-1898) - French poet who became one of the leaders of the Symbolists. Classified by Paul Verlaine as one of the “damned poets”/ru.wikipedia.org

Actually, the entire totality of Degas’ work (he would say: “the essence” - l’être-ensemble des œuvres) can be represented as the richest object of such work. Examples from Dega could illustrate a vocabulary of linguistic terms. The figures of his poetic speech - from the simplest omission of links, semantic assonances (such as, for example, a doublet played out many times seul / seuil - threshold / lonely) or masterly verbal play with the word “word” itself to the most complex designations of deep hermeticism - become a panorama of modern poetic polystylistics.
Previously they would have said that Deguy, following the extensive tradition of the twentieth century, is destroying language. However, the thickening 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 (“common”) into comme un (“as one”), once again emphasizing that poetry is the existence of the word and the concept comme - “as.” This is the path to expanding the metaphorical picture of the world, to that fourth dimension that the great lyricists of the past dreamed of.

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

In this picture, a mixture of genres and types of writing is fundamentally important for Dega - 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 growth of one into another occurs naturally, the boundaries are erased, a theoretical treatise can end in a poetic miniature, a lyrical quatrain - in a political manifesto. The fragments again create a whole, which falls into fragments, but does not disincarnate.
To your idea (« Modern literature, - he says, - seems rather marked Valerie oscillation between"; between prose and poetry, for example) Deguy dedicated a separate article, “The Shuffling of a Broom on the Street of Prose,” in which, in particular, he noted: “The modern poet is, by his own free will, a poet-organizer (poetizer). He likes to spin in the wheel (and with the wheel), which closes the thought of poetics and the poetics of thought.Poetics - "poetic art", explained by interest in the poem and its composition - connects and articulates two main ingredients: formality with revelation."

The rapprochement of poetry with philosophy, its flow into essays, the restoration of missing links at a different, mental level, creates a special logic poetic text, When "internal 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 interpretation des mots étrangers chez Apollinaire. Que Vlo-Vе? 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. Poésies complètes. 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 à Gisants // Deguy M. Gisants. Poèmes I-III. Paris, 1999. P. 6.