Summary:
The study of French culture has long ceased to be purely centred on literature. Undergraduate French courses now embrace all forms of cultural production and consumption, and students need to have a broad knowledge of everything from day-time TV and the latest detective novels to debates about national identity and immigration policies.
This stimulating text is an introduction to the full range of contemporary French culture. Written by a group of leading academics both within and outside France, each chapter focuses on a topic from the French cultural scene today. Starting with an overview of resources for further information (both in print and online), the text discusses the varied forms of French cultural expression and looks critically at what 'Frenchness' itself means. The book also explores examples of cultural production ranging from sport, media and literature to theatre, cinema, festivals and music. An essential resource for students and scholars alike, this text provides detailed material and analysis, as well as a launch-pad for further study.
- Thoroughly contemporary in approach, picking up where competition stalls
- Offers a coherent and stimulating discussion of a large and diverse field
- Reflects current trends in first and second-year courses
- Written by an excellent team of international contributors and edited by two leading scholars
Contributors:
Dougall Campbell, University of Glasgow, UK / Elizabeth Ezra, University of Stirling, UK / Susan Milner, University of Bath, UK / Lucille Cairns, University of Stirling, UK / Alec Hargreaves, University of Loughborough, UK / Brian Jenkins, University of Portsmouth, UK / James Munro, University of Stirling, UK / Philip Dine, University of Loughborough, UK / Alastair Duncan, University of Stirling, UK / Jean-Claude Sergeant, Institut du Monde Anglophone, France / Susan Harris, University of Stirling, UK / Christophe Campos, British Insitute in Paris, France / Bernard Swift, University of Stirling, UK / Lucy Mitchell, British Institute in Paris, France / Martyn Cornick, University of Birmingham, UK / Susan Collard, University of Sussex, UK / Jeremy Lane, University of Aberdeen, UK / Helen Bea
Readership:
Undergraduate students of French taking courses in 'Contemporary France', 'French Culture' and 'Culture and Society in Modern France'.
Reviews:
This book should prove enormously useful to undergraduate readers who are seeking to gain an overall orientation within the field of French culture. An excellent resource to the general academic reader who might wish to decipher and interpret the complex and polyphonic text of French culture.
European Journal of Communication
Both editors and contributors are to be congratulated on producing a book that works both as an undergraduate introduction and as a series of critical essays on French culture on the cusp of the twenty-first century.
Journal of European Area Studies
This is a stimulating introduction to French cultures and identities...resolutely contemporary and thought-provoking
Forum for Modern Language Studies