The Cambridge Companion to French Literature

John D. Lyons is Commonwealth Professor of French at the University of Virginia, and Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor. He is the author of eight books on French literature, including French Literature: A Very Short Introduction (2010) and The Phantom of Chance: From Fortune to Randomness in Seventeenth-Century French Literature (2011).

• Chronology; Introduction John D. Lyons; 1. Romance, roman, and novel Karen Sullivan; 2. Joan of Arc and the literary imagination Deborah McGrady; 3. Poetry and modernity Marc Bizer; 4. The graphic imagination and the printed page Tom Conley; 5. Tragedy and fear John D. Lyons; 6. Galant culture Elizabeth C. Goldsmith; 7. Varieties of doubt in early modern writing Michael Moriarty; 8. Nature and enlightenment Caroline Warman; 9. Nostalgia and the creation of the past Rosemary Lloyd; 10. Exoticism and colonialism Jennifer Yee; 11. Poetic experimentation Carrie J. Noland; 12. The renewal of narrative in the wake of Proust Edward J. Hughes; 13. French literature as world literature Charles Forsdick; 14. Literature and sex Elisabeth Ladenson; 15. The literary-philosophical essay Ian James; 16. The novel in the new millennium Warren Motte; Guide to further reading.

'The strength of this book lies not simply in the excellence of the individual essays but also in its kaleidoscopic nature. By focusing on a particular topic or genre in a particular period, but suggesting links to other periods and other topics, these essays combine to form a thoroughly convivial Companion.' Brian Nelson, French Studies