Does anyone else enjoy reading French writers and literature?

[cassiatwenty]

Hi friends,

(Inspired by @WhatWouldHopperDo and their thread on Korean and Japanese literarure )

I noticed people on here read Malraux, Zola, Flaubert, and even Pierre Choderlos de Laclos of Dangerous Liasons fame.

How about contemporary writers?

I read David Foenkinos Delicacy (+)
Delphine De Vigan Underground Time (+)
Françoise Sagan Bonjour Triestesse (+)
Duras The Lover (+)
Frédéric Beigbeder Love Lasts Three Years (+)

I couldn't really get into Valérie Perrin, Michel Houellebecq or Muriel Barbery.

What do you read? What did you like? What did you dislike? Any thoughts and/or recs?

Let me know because I'd like to know 😊 Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.

I ADORE Annie Ernaux. Nothing in her oeuvre disappoints

It doesn't help when the kindle dictionary translation just says vulgar! I do wish Americans could be less squeamish; they have an abundance of comparable vulgarities.

Agree re Annie Ernaux - she's great

Not only do l like French literature, my favourite English-language writers are often Francophiles. Oscar Wilde certainly was, and so was Aldous Huxley. In fact, Huxley was so steeped in French literature that I think of him as Anglo-French rather than English-British. He constantly alludes to French writers, and his essays are full of quotations from French poetry and prose. He also seems very French in his style - urbane and elegant, with a lightness of touch.

For those interested in literary trivia, Aldous Huxley taught George Orwell French at Eton. Funny to think that the two men who wrote the greatest dystopian novels of the 20th-century (Brave New World and 1984) were teacher and student in the same classroom.

Oh hey @Hartley99 😊 Thanks for commenting and teaching us something new!

I had no idea Huxley was influenced by French literature. This tidbit is very interesting how Huxley and Orwell were linked at Eton -- it's crazy to think he wrote Brave New World in 1931/1932.

Both Brave New World and 1984 are very relevant for today's times. It does make me think this was written so long ago yet we could think of those dystopian worlds and analyse present times.

I know it's more of a faff but I find the Reverso app much more useful than the kindle dictionary. Keep at it though, writers tend to use the same expressions over and over so it does get quicker and easier.

Must admit I read one Joel Dicker (the Affair of Harry someone) and absolutely hated it, but then we all like different things!