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/lit/ - Literature

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2258696 No.2258696 [Reply] [Original]

I'm looking for some good French literature because I want to improve my French, and because I think it will be good to broaden my horizons. Any suggestions?

NO PROUST

>> No.2258699
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2258699

Andre Breton
Albert Camus
Jean-Paul Sarte
Antonin Artaud
Are the only french writers I have. I like them all.

Samuel Beckett wrote a lot of his stuff originally in French. Check some of that out.

>> No.2258698

proust

>> No.2258708

>>2258699
Actually Hugo and Dumas as well.

So entry level it hurts.

And I'm pretty sure in the sticky there is a recommended french authors.

>> No.2258714

>>2258699
> Sartre


nope

>> No.2258720
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2258720

>>2258714
>not liking Sartre

>> No.2258721

>>2258714
Whats wrong with Satre? He's one of the more tolerable existentialists.

>> No.2258722

Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
Auguste Comte
René Descartes
Baron d'Holbach
Jacques Lacan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Marquis de Sade

>> No.2258724

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

You don't know French until you've seen how he uses it.

>> No.2258729

>>2258721
that's like saying a bag of shit is more tolerable than a room filled with shit

>> No.2258733

>>2258722
Gee, you are a faggot. You even had to call Voltaire by name and mention de Sade. Holy fuck.

>>2258696
Balzac, ffs. Read the fucking Balzac.

>> No.2258734

Here are some french texts I've read and enjoyed.

Zola's Germinal (it's actually quite a bit like Dickens' hard times)

Baudelaire's Le Fanfarlo (Baudelaire was badass)

I've been meaning to read some Genet, Gide, Ballsack, and Flaubert but haven't got there yet.

I've started two Sartre novels, but didn't finish either of them (Nausea in french, The Age of Reason in translation). I don't know what that means.

>> No.2258736

>>2258699
>Jean-Paul Sarte
>Antonin Artaud

Ha ha. Non.

>> No.2258754

It sounds obvious, but L'étranger by Camus. He uses simple past tenses unlike say the past historic and he isn;t too verbose. Plus he can make something simple sound beautiful like "the sky is blue" by just saying that.

>> No.2258761

>>2258729

the shit store called, they're running out of your post

op read some jean cocteau -- 5 plays or opium or the holy terrors

plus the stuff seussicle listed

>> No.2258799

Maupassant a fait de belles nouvelles.
Ionesco a écrit des pièces très intéressantes.

>> No.2258814

Fucking Proust. Why won't you read Proust?

>> No.2258821
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2258821

why not Lautréamont?

>> No.2258828

Georges Bataille
Rene Daumal
Michel Leiris
Tristan Tzara
Alfred Jarry
Antonin Artaud
Guillaume Apollinaire
Andre Breton
Paul Eluard
Louis Aragon
Pierre Reverdy
Jacques Prevert
Benjamin Peret

>> No.2258830
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2258830

Prou... oh

>> No.2258841

>>2258828
how many of those have you yourself read, anon?

>> No.2258851

No one suggests Michel Houellebecq?

Perhaps the greatest living French author.

>> No.2258863

>>2258851
I don't know I think a prefer that guy who won the NObel a few years ago

>> No.2258868

A bit of Rimbaud for that "what the fuck am I reading" experience.

Also DONATIEN ALPHONSE FRANÇOIS DE MOTHERFUCKING SADE.

>> No.2258870

>>2258863

clezio?

fuck fuck fuck terra amarta is one of the best books i've ever read

thanks for reminding me i need to read more of him

>> No.2258874

>>2258868

rimbaud got the colors of the vowels completely wrong though

>> No.2258889

>>2258874

Might've been that adolescence-long absinthe and hashish binge.

>> No.2258893

>>2258851
No, he's Beigbeder-tier.

>>2258696
Most of the recommandations posted in this thread are too hard for you if you're looking to improve your french, rather than practise it.

In novels, you should try Maupassant (Pierre et Jean, Bel-Ami), Cendrars (l'Or), Queneau (Zazie dans le métro or Exercices de style) or Butor (La Modification). These are all literary classics but you don't really need to have an advanced level in grammar or vocabulary to understand the subtleties.
If you just want to read fun and retarded that you'll read in an hour, pick a San-Antonio book.

If you want to read plays, you have a pretty vast array available. Beckett, Jarry, Claudel, Cocteau are all good. Grab everything you can from Anouilh. If you're looking for a harder read, try Amphytrion 38 by Giraudoux.
After all this serious literature, you could try a Feydeau play.

>> No.2258897

>>2258889
confirmed for not knowing shit about rimbaud's life

>> No.2258917

>>2258897
Nope, confirmed for exaggerating. I've read some biographical works about him actually.