The Penguin book of French short stories. Volume 2 From Colette to Marie Ndiaye

The short story has a rich tradition in French literature. This feast of an anthology celebrates its most famous practitioners, as well as newly translated writers ready for rediscovery. Here are fables, puzzles, fairy tales, war stories and family histories, testing and expanding the boundaries of the form. They are stories about the self and the other, the centre and the periphery, experimental and existential, real and surreal. The second volume takes the reader through the tumultuous 20th century.

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'Beautiful and deep ... a sumptuous treat for any book lover' The Independent

'Food for short story lovers everywhere' Irish Times

*A major celebration of the French short story and Spectator Book of the Year*

The short story has a rich tradition in French literature. This feast of an anthology celebrates its most famous practitioners, as well as newly translated writers ready for rediscovery. The second volume takes the reader through the tumultuous twentieth century in the company of writers including Simone de Beauvoir and Maryse Condé, Patrick Modiano and Virginie Despentes, covering world wars, revolutions, and the horrors of the motorway service station. Along the way we meet electronic brains, she-wolves, a sadistic Cinderella, ancestors, infidels, dissatisfied housewives and lonely ambassadors, all clamouring to be heard. Funny, devastating and fresh at every turn, this is the place to start for lovers of French literature, new and old.

Edited and with an introduction by Patrick McGuinness, academic, writer and translator.

Additional information

Weight 269 g
Dimensions 198 × 129 × 21 mm
Author

Publisher

Penguin Classics

Imprint

Penguin Classics

Cover

Paperback

Pages

368

Language

English

Edition

Short stories

Dewey

843.0108 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K