#also lol can u tell im not the biggest fan of 17th century lit

[readingloveswounds]

My Great Big Reading List

Here it is! These are the books that I’m trying to read this summer - in the future, some of them could be part of an exam reading list, but that is to be fully and officially built at a later date. I do not necessarily anticipate finishing this list in its entirety, but it’s got a whole lot of fairly different works on it.

I made it along a couple themes, just to narrow down my choices - very generally they were violence, war, bodies, and identity. I also added some that I was just interested in (see a few in the 18th and 19th centuries).

Not all of these have been easy to find online or in paper!

A final warning because Saint-Cyr and de Sade are both on there - be careful with those two books and be sure you want to read them prior to doing so - looking at their descriptions and being aware of de Sade, they deal with a lot of brutality. These aren’t really the kind of thing you’d read on a whim.

***Note that while reading over the summer before grad school is great, there is no actual requirement for doing so in most cases (in the US, at least as far as I know).***

Medieval

La Chanson de Roland Lancelot (Charrette) - Chretien de Troyes La Folie d'Oxford - Béroul Erec et Enide - Chretien de Troyes La Mort le roi Artur - (from the Vulgate-Grail, I think?) Aucassin et Nicolette Le Livre du voir dit - Guillaume de Machaut La Prison amoureuse - Jehan Froissart Le Livre de la cité des dames - Christine de Pizan Le Petit Jehan de Saintré - Antoine de la Sale Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles Le Charroi de Nimes

16th Century

Les Tragiques - Agrippa d'Aubigné Discours des misères de ce temps - Pierre de Ronsard Histoires tragiques - Francois de Belleforest Abraham sacrifiant - Théodore de Bèze Lepante - Guillaume de Salluste du Bartas la "Monomachie de David et de Goliath" - Joachim du Bellay Porcie - Robert Garnier La Rochelleide - Jean de la Gessée Illustrations de Gaule et Singularitez de Troie - Jean Lemaire de Belges Discours de la servitude volontaire - Etienne de la Boétie Médée - Jean de La Péruse Pantagruel - Francois Rabelais

17th Century

Oeuvres poétiques - Theophile de Viau Le cid - Corneille Andromaque, Phèdre, et Britannicus - Racine Contes - Charles Perrault Les Aventures de Télémaque - Fénelon La Mort d’Achille, La Mort d'Alexandre, Coriolan - Alexandre Hardy Dom Juan - Molière

18th Century

Le Diable amoureux - Jacques Cazotte Le Paradox sur le comedien - Denis Diderot La dispute - Pierre de Marivaux L'Esprit des lois - Charles Louis de Secondat Montesquieu Pauliska, ou la Perversité moderne - Jacques-Antoine de Reveroni Saint-Cyr* Aline et Valcour - Donatien Alphonse Francois de Sade* L'emigré - Gabriel Senac de Meilhan Paul et Virginie - Bernardin de Saint-Pierre Memoires du Comte de Comminge - Claudine-Alexandrine Guerin Tencin Traité sur la tolerance - Voltaire

19th Century

Atala - Chateaubriand La Chartreuse de Parme - Stendhal La fille aux yeux d'or - Balzac Lorenzaccio - Musset Le Dernier Jour d'un condamné - Victor Hugo La Sorcière - Michelet Carmen - Merimée La Morte Amoureuse - Gautier Les fleurs du mal - Baudelaire Les Diaboliques - Barbey d'Aurevilly Boule-de-Suif / Mademoiselle Fifi - Maupassant Les Chants de Maldoror - Leautreamont Igitur - Mallarme

20th Century

Cahier d'un retour au pays natal - Césaire Traversée de la mangrove - Condé Les Bonnes - Jean Genet Antigone - Anouilh La femme de Job - Chedid Nedjma - Kateb Yacine Le Cimetiere marin - Valéry La route des Flandres - Simon Stèles - Segalen La condition humaine - Malraux La Guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu - Giradoux Le dimanche de la vie - Queneau

#sophie creates a reading list #long post #if you're newer to the french language i'd suggest starting with the 20th century works #simply because the language is not as wildly complex #and if you want to read some of the med/ren ones id suggest plays #feel free to ask me qs about this bc while i have not read all the works #i did do at least some research on them as i was putting them on here #was somewhat hesitant abt posting w the st cyr + de sade books #but i'm here to be realistic #and they do both technically fit the themes #im not reading justine bc im not sure i could deal with that book #also lol can u tell im not the biggest fan of 17th century lit