What comes to your mind when someone says France? We bet images of the lighted Eiffel Tower at night, romantic vibes, fascinating architecture, and the glamorous fashion of Louis Vittoin, Dior, etc. would have taken up most of the space in your mind. While these are widely recognized facets of France, the least appreciated and known aspect is the gigantic corpus of French literature produced by France.
From Gustave Flaubert, George Sand, and Alexandre Dumas to Guy de Maupassant, Albert Camus, Colette, and many more, the list of gifted writers that France has given to literature is endless. And what’s most intriguing is that French literature or its writers aren’t among newly emerged literature but rather among the oldest literature existing as its origin dates back to as early as the 11th century. But guess what, this isn’t even the most interesting fact about it. There are so many other intriguing facts about French literature that surpass this one. Let’s check them out.
1: Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s Le Petit Prince has received the most translations across all books in the world –
“It is only in the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye” Does this quote hit quite close to home? As simple as it sounds, it has immeasurable depth. This is exactly what Antoine’s writing feels like. The tale of a young boy traveling the world and gaining knowledge touched the hearts of many, leading to its numerous translations. Since its publication in 1943, this French novella has been translated into 300 languages making it the most translated work of world literature falling only short of the Bible.
2: One of the famous works of French literature contains 823 words in a single sentence –
Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables follows the struggles of a prisoner Jean Valijean as he escapes jail and finds himself on the path of redemption. This great work of literature has a single sentence containing 823 words with 93 commas and 51 semicolons. It describes the ruler of France, Louis Philippe. While one might get tempted to skip the sentence, doing so will only make you miss the plot. Although, Timothy Fullerton claimed it to be the longest sentence ever in literature, he was mistaken. Works of Joyce with 4,391 words long sentence as well as Jonathan Coe’s 13, 955 words long sentence surpass it. Nevertheless, it still is an achievement, especially since one will require patience to read through it.
3: Many popular fairy tales were first written in French –
Heard the story of Sleeping Beauty when you were young? While many of you would have slept to stories of Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, and Cinderella, did you have the faintest clue that they were originally written by a French author Charles Perrault? Yes, you heard that right! Written in French and later translated into English, the credit for these fairy tales goes to French literature. Another popular fairy tale, The Beauty and the Beast was written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, another French writer. In fact, the word fairy tale got its name owing to Madame d’Aulnoy whose stories were literally referred to as “Conte de Fairies” meaning “tales of fairies”.
4: French literature produced a novel without verbs –
The credit for this goes to Michel Daniel who wrote under the pen name Michel Thaler. He achieved this impossible feat in his novel titled Le Train de Nulle Part or The Train from Nowhere. It is a 233-page novel and does not contain a single verb. As a result, it lacks scenes of action and is filled with passages of flowery adjectives. This was the main reason for the critique of the book. Nevertheless, the novelist was satisfied with his work as for him verbs were like weeds in a garden and it didn’t allow the language to flourish. Owing to this thought, he wrote a novel without verbs.
5: Georges Perec wrote his novel without using the letter ‘e’ –
If writing a novel without verbs was a remarkable achievement, then writing without using the letter ‘e’ has certainly gone beyond the limits of imagination. But again this has been made possible by a French writer George Perec who wrote his novel La Disparition in 1969 without using words that contained the letter ‘e’. This form of writing is called constrained writing. As the name implies, it restricts writers to use only certain specific words and avoid others. Not only does the novel omit the letter ‘e’ but even its English translation ‘The Void’ has successfully managed to replicate the same.
6: The First Nobel Prize winner in Literature was a French writer –
The first person to ever win a Nobel Prize in Literature was a French poet and essayist Sully Prudhomme who won the award for his poetic composition in 1901. Since then, 15 other French writers have won a Nobel Prize in Literature making France the leading country with the most number of this great recognition. Some notable names who won the award include Albert Camus, Romain Rolland, Claude Simon, Anatole France, and many others.
7: A French writer had long predicted the greatest scientific inventions in the world through his writings –
Jules Verne, a French author, is best known for his work Around the World in Eighty Days. But what only a few people know about him is his passion for scientific advancements and technology. Many of his writings came up with elaborate descriptions of using a submarine or building an aircraft as well as landing on the moon. While these inventions were in progress, Vernes was a step ahead as he proposed them in his works such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Robur the Conqueror, and From the Earth to the Moon.
8: King Arthurian Romances have been developed by French Literature –
King Arthur was a historical figure originating in Celtic myths as a brave leader who fought against the invading Anglo-Saxons. From there, Medieval French writer Chretien de Troyes wrote Arthurian romances popularising the tales of adultery between the king’s knight and his wife. In fact, this introduced the courtly love theme which influenced European literature heavily. So, the credit for developing the legend of King Arthur goes to French writers.
9: The longest novel in the world has been written by a French author –
While various novels try to state their claim for being the longest novel in the world, according to The Guinness Book of World Records, Marcel Proust’s novel beats all others. The famous novel in question is “A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu” or Remembrance of Things Past which is 3,000 pages long and has 13 volumes or in other words 9.6 million characters including spaces.
10: French literature spearheaded many literary movements across Europe –
The influence of French literature on Europe led to two widely known literary movements, namely Symbolism and Naturalism. Symbolists believed in representing emotions through a series of metaphors that would reveal the innermost psyche and workings of human life. The major proponents for the movement were Stephane Mallarme, and Arthur Rimband, among many others. These French writers influenced the likes of T.S Eliot and W.B Yeats who then went on to lead the movement across Europe. Similarly, Emile Zola was the leading figure of the Naturalist Movement which sought to study the effect of environment on a character’s behavior. The movement slowly spread across Europe leading to several other popular works.
These are just some interesting facets of French Literature. It sure does have many others. If you find any more such amazing facts, do add them to the list by leaving a comment below!
