Travel
James Boswell
An Account of
Corsica , current
edition published as
The
Journal of a Tour to
Corsica (In Print
Publishing, UK).
Typically robust and
witty account of
encounters with the
Corsican people.
Excerpts published in
Journals
of James Boswell
(Mandarin/Yale UP).
Dorothy
Carrington
Granite Island
(Penguin, UK, o/p). By
far the best study of
Corsica ever written
in English. A
fascinating and
immensely
comprehensive book,
combining the writer's
personal experiences
with an evocative
portrayal of
historical figures and
events.
Julien Green
Paris (Marion
Boyars). A collection
of very personal
sketches and
impressions of the
city, by an American
who has lived all his
life in Paris, writes
in French, and is
considered one of the
great French writers
of the century.
Bilingual text.
Richard Holmes
Fatal Avenue (Pimlico;
Trafalgar Square). The
phrase is de Gaulle's,
used to describe
France's northeast
frontier whose
notorious
topographical
vulnerability has made
it the natural route
for invaders since
time began. From the
Channel to Alsace,
Holmes relates the
wars and the
personalities to the
places as they are
today, from the
Hundred Years War to
World War II. An
exciting and
informative read.
Richard Holmes
Footsteps
(Flamingo; Vintage). A
marvellous mix of
objective history and
personal account, such
as the tale of the
author's own
excitement at the
events of May 1968 in
Paris, which led him
to investigate and
reconstruct the
experiences of the
British in Paris
during the 1789
Revolution.
Laurence Sterne
A Sentimental
Journey Through France
and Italy
(Penguin; Viking).
Rambling tale by the
eccentric
eighteenth-century
author of Tristram
Shandy who,
despite the title,
never gets further
than Versailles.
Robert Louis
Stevenson
Travels with a
Donkey (OUP;
Koneman). Mile-by-mile
account of Stevenson's
twelve-day trek in the
Haute Loire and Cévennes
uplands with the
donkey Modestine.
Devotees of
Stevenson's footpaths
- and there's a
surprising number in
France - might be
interested in his
first book, Inland
Voyage , on the
waterways of the
north.
Freda White
Three Rivers of
France (Pavilion;
Faber, o/p), West
of the Rhone
(Faber, US, o/p), Ways
of Aquitaine
(Faber, o/p). Freda
White spent a great
deal of time in France
in the 1950s before
tourism came along to
the backwater
communities that were
her interest. These
are all evocative
books, slipping in the
history and culture
painlessly, if not
always too accurately.
Society and politics
N. A. Addinall
(ed)
French
Political Parties: A
Documentary Guide
(U of Wales Press,
UK). Clear and concise
textbook introduction
to the constitution
and political parties
of the Fifth Republic;
quotations and source
materials are not
translated but this
need not deter
non-French speakers.
Roland Barthes
Mythologies
(Vintage; Noonday) and
The Eiffel Tower
(California UP, US). Mythologies
is an immensely
readable structuralist
critique on the
socio-historical
importance of myth and
its signs in France
today, accompanied by
a series of quirky
examples. The short
text, The Eiffel
Tower ,
demystifies the Eiffel
tower as synecdoche of
Paris - he accepts
Maupassant's solution
of eliminating it from
the vista by going to
have dinner in the
Eiffel Tower
restaurant.
Jean Baudrillard
Selected Writings
(Stanford UP).
Essential reading to
get an overview of the
most interesting
contemporary French
philosopher and
artist. His notion of
the simulacrum (the
image of the essence
of an object) and the
role of the object as
sign within the
consumer system is
complex but
revelatory.
Simone de
Beauvoir
The Second Sex
(Vintage). One of the
prime texts of Western
feminism, written in
1949, covering women's
inferior status in
history, literature,
mythology,
psychoanalysis,
philosophy and
everyday life. The
style is dry and
intellectual, but the
subject matter easily
compensates.
Denis Belloc
Slow Death in Paris
(Quartet, UK). A
harrowing account of a
heroin addict in
Paris. Not recommended
holiday reading but if
you want to know about
the seedy underbelly
of the city this is
the book.
Mary Blume
A French Affair:
The Paris Beat
1965-1998 (Plume).
Incisive and witty
observations on
contemporary French
life by the International
Herald Tribune
reporter who was
stationed there for
three decades.
Émilie Carles
Wild Herb Soup
(Indigo, UK). A moving
and inspiring
autobiography of a
girl born and raised
in the remote Alpine
valley of the Névache
near Briançon in the
early years of the
twentieth century. As
well as giving an
interesting account of
peasant life, it
records the
development of social
conscience and an
extraordinary moral
toughness as Émilie
becomes aware of the
brutality and
harshness of peasant
life, sees her
brothers die in World
War I, experiences
Resistance in World
War II, and finally
finds herself, as an
old lady, leading the
campaign to stop the
desecration of her
beautiful natal valley
by the construction of
an autoroute .
Claire Duchen
Feminism in France:
From May '68 to
Mitterrand (Routledge).
Charts the evolution
of the women's
movement through to
its mid-1980s crisis,
clarifying the
divergent political
stances and feminist
theory that informs
the various groups and
placing them in the
wider French political
context.
Jonathan Fenby
On the Brink
(Warner; Arcade
Publishing). While
France isn't perhaps
quite as endangered as
the title suggests,
this provocative book
takes a long, hard
look at the problems
facing contemporary
France.
Gisèle Halimi
Milk for the Orange
Tree (Quartet,
UK). A gutsy
autobiographical story
of a woman who was
born in Tunisia, the
daughter of an
Orthodox Jewish
family, and who ran
away to Paris to
become a lawyer, and
defender of women's
rights, Algerian FLN
fighters and all
unpopular causes.
Bernard Henri-Lévy
Adventures on the
Freedom Road: The
French Intellectuals
in the 20th Century
(Harvill). Huge,
clever and complex
essays by contemporary
philosopher-celebrity,
mercilessly analysing
the response of all
the great French
thinkers, of Left and
Right, to the key
events of the century.
Easy to dip into,
surprisingly readable
and very provocative.
David Thomson
Democracy in France
Since 1870 (Cassell,
UK, o/p). An enquiry
into why a country
with such a strong
socialist tradition
should have had so
many reactionary
governments.
Gillian Tindall
Célestine: Voices
from a French Village
(Minerva; Holt).
Intrigued by some
nineteenth century
love letters left
behind in the house
she has bought in
Chassignolles, Berry,
Tindall researches the
history of the village
back to the 1840s. She
produces a meticulous,
thoughtful and moving
portrait of rural
French life and its
slow but dramatic
transformation. A
brilliant piece of
social history.
Eugen Weber
My France
(Harvard UP). A
collection of essays,
fascinating and
offbeat, about
numerous aspects of
French culture and
politics. Some prior
knowledge of
mainstream French
history is needed to
make the most of them.
Arts
John Berger
The Success and
Failure of Picasso
(Penguin, o/p;
Vintage). The success
is self-explanatory;
the failure (and the
tragedy) lies in
Picasso's poverty of
subject matter - or so
Berger argues in this
brief and highly
persuasive book.
Perhaps the best
one-volume study of
Picasso in English.
Brassaï
The Secret Paris of
the Thirties
(Thames & Hudson,
UK, o/p).
Extraordinary photos
of the capital's
nightlife in the 1930s
- brothels, music
halls,
street-cleaners,
transvestites and the
underworld - each one
a work of art and a
familiar world (now
long since gone) to
Brassaï and his mate,
Henry Miller, who
accompanied him on his
nocturnal expeditions.
David J. Brown
Bridges Across Time
(Mitchell Beazley, UK,
o/p). A very beautiful
book about both the
technical and
aesthetic aspects of
bridge-building; not
exclusively about
France, but includes
many French bridges
from the Roman Pont du
Gard to the Pont
d'Avignon, Eiffel's
constructions and the
state-of-the-art Pont
de Normandie across
the Seine estuary.
André Chastel
French Art: The
Ancien Régime
1620-1775 (Flammarion).
This sumptuous volume
by a renowned art
historian combines
exquisite pictures
with political,
cultural and artistic
detail to illustrate
the painting,
sculpture and
architecture that
emerged during the
reigns of Louis XIII,
XIV and XV.
Kenneth J.
Comant
Carolingian and
Romanesque
Architecture, 800-1200
(Yale UP). Good
European study with a
focus on Cluny and the
Santiago pilgrim
route.
Norma Evenson
Paris: A Century of
Change, 1878-1978
(Yale UP). A large,
illustrated volume
that makes the
development of urban
planning and the
fabric of Paris an
enthralling subject -
mainly because the
author's ultimate
concern is always with
people, not panoramas.
Edward Lucie-Smith
A Concise History
of French Painting
(Thames & Hudson,
US, o/p). If you're
after an art reference
book, this will do as
well as any... though
there are of course
hundreds of books on
particular French art
movements.
John Richardson
, The Life of
Picasso: Vol 1
1881-1906 (Pimlico;
Random House) and Vol
2 1907-17 (Cape;
Random House). No
twentieth-century
artist has ever been
subjected to scrutiny
as close as Picasso
receives in
Richardson's
exhaustive and
brilliantly
illustrated biography.
The author has taken
many years to complete
the first two volumes,
and there's a risk
he'll never reach the
end, but the
mould-breaking years
have now been covered,
and it's impossible to
imagine how anyone
could surpass
Richardson's treatment
of them. Volumes 3 and
4 are in the pipeline.
Vivian Russell
, Monet's Garden
(Frances Lincoln;
Stewart Tabori &
Chang). Sumptuous
colour photographs by
the author, old
photographs of the
artist and
reproductions of his
paintings. Superb
opening chapter on
Monet as "poet of
nature" and a
detailed description
of the garden's
evolution, seasonal
cycle and its current
maintenance which will
delight serious
gardeners.
Gertrude Stein
The Autobiography
of Alice B Toklas
(Penguin; Vintage).
The goings-on at
Stein's famous salon
in Paris. The most
accessible of her
works, written from
the point of view of
Stein's long-time
lover, gives an
amusing account of the
Paris art and literary
scene of the 1910s and
1920s.
France in literature
Listed below is a
highly selective
recommendation of
works - mostly novels
- that are rooted in
the various French
regions, and which
would make good
holiday reading.
PARIS AND AROUND
Steven Barclay
(ed) A Place in the
World Called Paris
Julian Barnes
Metroland
Charles
Baudelaire
Baudelaire's Paris
, trans Laurence
Kitchen
André Breton
Nadja
Blaise Cendrars
To the End of the
World
Didier Daeninckx
Murder in Memoriam
Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two
Cities
Gustave Flaubert
A Sentimental
Education
Ernest Hemingway
A Moveable Feast
Victor Hugo
Les Misérables
Jack Kerouac
Satori in Paris
Henry Miller
Quiet Days in
Clichy, Tropic of
Cancer, Tropic of
Capricorn
Anaïs Nin
Journals 1917-1974
George Orwell
Down and Out in
Paris and London
Georges Perec
Life: A User's
Manual
Raymond Queneau
Zazie dans le Métro
Paul Rambali
French Blues
Jean Rhys
Quartet, Good
Morning Midnight
Jean-Paul Sartre
Roads to Freedom
trilogy
Georges Simenon
Any Maigret
thriller
Patrick Süsskind
Perfume
Michel Tournier
The Golden Droplet
Émile Zola
Nana, L'Assommoir,
La Bête Humaine, La
Curée, Le Ventre de
Paris
CALAIS TO
CHAMPAGNE
Julien Gracq
A Balcony in the
Forest, The Opposing
Shore
Émile Zola
Germinal, La Débâcle
ALSACE,
FRANCHE-COMTÉ AND
JURA
John Berger
Pig Earth
Bernard Clavel
The Spaniard
Colette
My Mother's House
Pierre Gascar
Women and the Sun
Stendhal
Scarlet and Black
NORMANDY AND
BRITTANY
Honoré de
Balzac
Les Chouans
Colette
Ripening Seed
Sebastian Faulks
Birdsong
Gustave Flaubert
Madame Bovary
André Gide
Strait is the Gate
Pierre Loti
Pêcheur d'Islande
Guy de
Maupassant
Selected Short
Stories
Marcel Proust
Remembrance of
Things Past
Jean Rouard
Fields of Glory, Of
Illustrious Men
Jean-Paul Sartre
La Nausée
THE LOIRE
Alain Fournier
Le Grand Meaulnes
Rabelais
Gargantua and
Pantagruel
George Sand
The Devil's Pool
Émile Zola
The Earth
BURGUNDY
Gabriel
Chevallier
Clochemerle
ATLANTIC COAST
François
Mauriac
Thérèse
THE PYRENEES
Pierre Loti
Ramuntcho
LANGUEDOC
Hannah Closs
High Are the
Mountains
RHÔNE VALLEY
AND PROVENCE
Lawrence Durrell
The Avignon Quintet
Jean Giono
The Horseman on the
Roof, The Man Who
Planted Trees, Joy of
Man's Desiring
Marcel Pagnol
Jean de Florette,
Manon des Sources
Émile Zola
Fortune of the
Rougons
CÔTE D'AZUR
Colette
Collected Stories
Alexandre Dumas
The Count of Monte
Cristo
F. Scott
Fitzgerald
Tender is the Night
Graham Greene
Loser Takes All,
May We Borrow Your
Husband?
Katherine
Mansfield
Selected Short
Stories
Françoise Sagan
Bonjour Tristesse
Guides
100 Walks in the
French Alps (Hodder
& Stoughton). A
very good guide to
hiking in the Alps,
detailing which walks
are appropriate for
different abilities.
James Bromwich
The Roman Remains
of Southern France
(Routledge). The only
comprehensive guide to
the subject -
detailed, well
illustrated and
approachable. In
addition to accounts
of the famous sites,
it will lead you off
the map to
little-known
discoveries.
Glynn Christian
Edible France
(Grub Street;
Interlink). A guide to
food rather than
restaurants: regional
produce, local
specialities, markets
and best shops for
buying goodies to
bring back home.
Cicerone Walking
Guides (Cicerone,
UK). Neat, durable
guides, with detailed
route descriptions.
Titles include Tour
of Mont Blanc;
Chamonix-Mont Blanc;
Tour of the Oisans
(GR54); French Alps
(GR5); The Way of
Saint James
(GR65); Tour of the
Queyras; The Pyrenean
Trail (GR10); Walks
and Climbs in the
Pyrenees .
Robin G. Collomb
Corsica Mountains
(West Col, UK). Covers
all the principal
mountain peaks, with
information on
different approaches
and ascents backed up
with diagrams.
Elizabeth David
French Provincial
Cooking (Penguin,
UK). A classic cookery
book, written in 1960
by the English expert
on French food. The
recipes are in fine
prose rather than
manual speak, with
excellent detail and
warnings about tricky
processes or the need
for particular skills;
and they work, even
with non-French
ingredients. She makes
the subject of kitchen
equipment fascinating
and beautifully
describes the
different regional
cuisines.
Mary Davis
The Green Guide to
France (Green
Print, UK). Definitely
not the Michelin, this
is a resource guide to
French national parks
and wildlife reserves,
veggie restaurants,
communes and the like.
Emplois d'Été
en France
(published in France,
distributed by
Vacation Work, UK).
Annual listings (in
French) of thousands
of summer jobs
available in France.
Footpaths of
Europe Series (16
titles; Robertson
McCarta, UK). Route
guides to most areas
of France including
Corsica, covering the
system of GR
footpaths, illustrated
with 1:50,000 colour
survey maps. These are
English versions of
the Topoguides des
Sentiers de Grande
Randonnée (CNSGR,
Paris), which are
widely available in
France and not hard to
follow with a working
knowledge of French.
Mark Hampshell
Live and Work in
France (Vacation
Work, UK, o/p). An
invaluable guide for
anyone considering
residence or work in
France; packed with
ideas and advice on
job hunting,
bureaucracy, tax,
health, etc.
Haute-Savoie
& Mont Blanc
(Two Wheels, UK, o/p).
The only
English-language guide
to mountain-biking,
detailing fifty
off-road routes of
varying difficulty in
that region.
Louisa Jones
Gardens of the
French Riviera (Flammarion).
The history and
traditions of Riviera
gardens accompanied by
gorgeous photographs.
W. Lippert
Fleurs des
Montagnes, Alpages
