French Literature

Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring People have been writing literary works in French for a thousand years, since the 11th century. What began as a small stream of texts copied by hand has become a vast river of printed poems, dramas, novels, stories, biographies, and autobiographies in an ever-changing kaleidoscope of forms created and enjoyed now not only in Europe but on many continents. French was long the true lingua franca of cultural elites in many countries. Yet, Fren