French Literature

With these two chilling novels of the supernatural, a distinguished French writer makes his first appearance in English. Both stories take place during the nineteenth century, in the swampy farmland of the Sologne region, near Orléans, where its peasantry lives in the grip of medieval witchcraft and local legend. From their infancy, the heroines of Malvenue (The Unwelcome One) and Marie the Wolf have been possessed by evil spirits. Unable to escape the power of the Devil, they are given to irrational and sometimes perverse behavior—behavior that leads inexorably to tragedy (Goodreads).

La Bete humaine (1890), the seventeenth novel in the Rougon-Macquart series, is one of Zola's most violent and explicit works. On one level a tale of murder, passion, and possession, it is also a compassionate study of individuals derailed by atavistic forces beyond their control. Zola considered this his 'most finely worked' novel, and in it he powerfully evokes life at the end of the Second Empire in France, where society seemed to be hurtling into the future like the new locomotives and railways it was building. While expressing the hope that human nature evolves through education and gradually frees itself of the burden of inherited evil, he is constantly reminding us that under the veneer of technological progress there remains, always, the beast within.

Mysterious entities take possession of a long deserted castle creating fear among the residents of the adjacent village of Werst, in Transylvania. Access the French text here: Le Château des Carpathes.

The Count of Gabalis is a 17th-century French text by Abbé Nicolas-Pierre-Henri de Montfaucon de Villars (1635–1673). The titular Comte de Gabalis (Count of Cabala) is an esotericist who explains the mysteries of the world to the author. It first appeared in Paris in 1670, anonymously, though the identity of the author came to be known.

J.-K. Huysmans's gaudy, shocking, and largely autobiographical novel, The Damned (Là-bas) was quickly condemned and just as quickly achieved cult status. It follows Durtal, a shy, censorious man, who is writing a biography of Gilles de Rais, the fifteenth-century nobleman, child-murderer, and supposed model for 'Bluebeard.' Bored and disgusted by the vulgarity of everyday life, Durtal seeks spiritual solace by immersing himself in another age. But when he meets the exquisitely evil Madame Chantelouve, he is drawn inextricably into the twilight world of black magic and erotic devilry in fin de siècle Paris. Access the French text here: Là-Bas.

Thirty-one stories of the supernatural which explore the furthest reaches of the macabre and at the same time parallel Guy de Maupassant's descent into madness and death.

During the early part of the nineteenth century there flourished in France a literature of horror on a par with the English Gothic novel or the German Schauerroman. Rapidly christened 'the frenetique school,' several of its practitioners including Victor Hugo and Honore de Balzac went on the have highly successful literary careers in other fields. The frenetique was at its peak in the late 1820s and early 1830s. Of this short-lived literary movement Jules Janin's 'The Dead Donkey and the Guillotined Woman' is one of the finest and certainly one of the most unpleasant examples. Jules Janin is supposed to have begun the tale as a spoof of the fashionable frenetique style; however, with its wealth of horrible incidents and its sinister and claustrophobic atmosphere, it seems likely that the author actually fell in love with his subject. The bizarre duality of the novel becomes as a consequence one of its most striking qualities (Amazon).

The Devil in Love (Le Diable amoureux) could be considered the first modern French horror novel. In it, a young nobleman conjures up a demon who assumes the shape of a beautiful woman.

The first translation of Alexandre Dumas's immortal occult novel. The book opens with a Frenchman who has beheaded his wife...and surrenders himself, swearing that the dismembered head spoke to him. A highwayman returns to the gallows on which he has hung a victim... to [become], himself, the hanged man...Access the French text here: Les mille et un fantômes: une journée à Fontenay-aux-Roses.

Le professeur Wittembach, philosophe allemand, se rend en Lituanie pour ses recherches. Il est recu dans le chateau du comte Michel Szemioth dont la mere est devenue folle au lendemain de son mariage, apres qu'un ours, lors d'une chasse, l'eut emportee sans doute pour aller la devorer tout a son aise dans un fourre Le jeune comte, qui s'est d'abord cache dans un arbre pour observer le savant, recoit fort bien ce dernier, et lui raconte la mystification dont il a ete l'objet de la part d'une charmante jeune fille, Ioulka Iwinska...Merimee reprend, dans cette nouvelle, la legende de l'homme-ours attestee dans bien des traditions, et qu'il a pu decouvrir dans les Danorum regum heroumque historiae de Saxo Grammaticus ou dans les Histoires tragiques de Bandello traduites par Belleforest.

The Man Who Laughs (also published under the title By Order of the King from its subtitle in French) is a novel by Victor Hugo, originally published in April 1869 under the French title L'Homme qui rit. It takes place in England beginning in 1690 and extends into the early 18th century reign of Queen Anne. It depicts England's royalty and aristocracy of the time as cruel and power-hungry. Hugo intended parallels with the France of Louis-Philippe and the Régence. The novel concerns the life of a young nobleman, also known as Gwynplaine, disfigured as a child (on the orders of the king), who travels with his protector and companion, the vagabond philosopher Ursus, and Dea, the baby girl he rescues during a storm. The novel is famous for Gwynplaine's mutilated face, stuck in a permanent laugh. The book has inspired many artists, dramatists and film-makers.

'I am not an angel nor a genie nor a ghost...I am Erik!' A mysterious Phantom haunts the depths of the Paris Opera House where he has fallen passionately in love with the beautiful singer Christine Daaé. Under his guidance her singing rises to new heights and she is triumphantly acclaimed. But Christine is also loved by Raoul de Chagny, and by returning his love she makes the fiend she knows as the Angel of Music mad with jealousy. When the Phantom is finally unmasked, will Christine see beyond his hideous disfigurement? The twists and turns of Leroux's thrilling story have captivated readers since its very first appearance in 1910, and its outlines are known to many more who have seen it on stage or film. This new translation is as full-blooded and sensational as the original. David Coward's introduction tells the fascinating story of the novel's genesis, and his thorough notes further illuminate details of the narrative. Christine's plight, the fate of Erik, and the redemptive power of love make an unforgettable novel.

When Trelkovsky, a Parisian in desperate need of a place to live, comes across an affordable apartment, he jumps at the chance to rent it, undaunted by the fact that the previous tenant hurled herself screaming through the window. What happens next is a harrowing descent into paranoia and madness as a series of bizarre events unfolds that leaves Trelkovsky doubting his sanity and fearing for his life (Amazon).

Characterized by gratuitous acts of brutality and surprise endings, these tales of obsession and violence are the creations of a twentieth-century French writer whose works were staged by the legendary Théâtre du Grand-Guignol of Paris. The precursors of modern thrillers and slasher films, these stories have been specially selected for this edition and introduced by horror specialist S. T. Joshi. Thirty-nine conte cruel ('cruel tales') include 'In the Light of the Red Lamp,' in which a husband's photographs of his dead wife reveal a deeper tragedy; 'Fascination,' the tale of a morbid passion that develops when the narrator, determined to stay at home, shoots his mistress for the sake of peace and quiet; and 'The Bastard,' concerning a father's suspicions about his son's paternity. Other stories include 'The Taint,' a view of infanticide as mercy-killing; 'The Test,' in which an accused murderer is forced to reenact his crime; and 'A Maniac,' recounting a thrill-seeker's ghoulish impulse to witness death-defying stunts gone wrong.

The novel chronicles the fall from power of the Caliph Vathek, who renounces Islam and engages with his mother, Carathis, in a series of licentious and deplorable activities designed to gain him supernatural powers. At the end of the novel, instead of attaining these powers, Vathek descends into a hell ruled by the fallen angel Eblis where he is doomed to wander endlessly and speechlessly.

This insightful study explores the enthralling world of the fantastic short story in France. Born in the early 1800's of the enormous popularity of the works of E.T.A. Hoffmann, the genre flourished again toward the end of the century. The aesthetics of the two periods are quite distinct, the first reflecting the technique of Hoffmann and the second the intervening influence of the equally popular stories of Edgar Allan Poe. The author examines this change from the point of view of the contemporary reader. Of particular value are his textual analyses that demonstrate the differences between the two periods.

This book sets the writings of Merimee, Le Fanu, Stoker and Verne in the context in which they were written—namely the response to Balkan, Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian politics. Gibson analyzes their works to reveal that the vampire acts as an allegory of the Near East through which constitutes a challenge to the 'orientalism' argument of today.

Connoisseurs of fantasy, science fiction, and horror have long recognized the important contributions of thousands of French authors, filmmakers, and artists.The volume is divided into two parts. Part I gives historical overviews, complete lists, descriptions, and summaries for works in film, television, radio, animation, comic books, and graphic novels. This section also includes interviews with animation director Rene Laloux and comic book artist Moebius, as well as comments from filmmaker Luc Besson. Biographies are provided for over 200 important contributors to television and graphic arts. Part II covers the major authors and literary trends of French science fiction, fantasy, and horror from the Middle Ages to the present day. (French-Canadians and Belgians are also examined.) There is a biographical dictionary of over 3,000 authors, a section on major French awards, and a complete bibliography. Many illustrations (!) illuminate this thorough presentation.

The Théâtre du Grand-Guignol in Paris (1897–1962) achieved a legendary reputation as the 'Theatre of Horror,' a venue displaying such explicit violence and blood-curdling terror that a resident doctor was employed to treat the numerous spectators who fainted each night. Indeed, the phrase 'grand guignol' has entered the language to describe any display of sensational horror.   Since the theatre closed its doors forty years ago, the genre has been overlooked by critics and theatre historians. This book reconsiders the importance and influence of the Grand-Guignol within its social, cultural and historical contexts, and is the first attempt at a major evaluation of the genre as performance. It gives full consideration to practical applications and to the challenges presented to the actor and director. The book also includes oustanding new translations by the authors of ten Grand-Guignol plays, none of which have been previously available in English. The presentation of these plays in English for the first time is an implicit demand for a total reappraisal of the grand-guignol genre, not least for the unexpected inclusion of two very funny comedies.

Marcel Schneider, born in Paris in 1913, is an associate professor of literature. He left teaching in 1960 to devote himself to literature and music. He published a Schubert and a Wagner in the 'Solfèges' collection of Editions du Seuil and with Grasset novels and collections of short stories which all relate to the marvelous and the fantastic (The Stone Warrior, Mother Merveille, The Columns of the Temple, The Light of the North, Stories to Die For). His biography of Hoffmann (Julliard) and his History of fantastic literature in France clarify the direction of his thought. Following various awards, in 1980 he received the Pierre de Monaco Prize for all of his work (translation of publisher's description).

Method in Madness looks at the ways in which 19th-century French literature of the fantastic reflected what psychoanalysis would later define as mechanisms of defence. Each chapter of the book is dedicated to a particular mechanism—fetishization, projection, intellectualization, mechanization, and compulsion—and to a representative set of texts which illustrate and embody the process concerned. The book thus systematizes what has remained up to now a rather vague perception of the psychological processes at work in fantastic narrative and of the relationship between the fantastic and the emerging science of psychoanalysis. Although centred on French works, including texts by Gautier, Merimee, Balzac, George Sand, Maupassant, and Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, the study necessarily deals with the German tradition of the fantastic, notably Hoffmann and Freud...