French Stories / Contes Français (A Dual-Language Book) (English and French Edition)

The English translations are not much to brag about, but they are there to serve a specific purpose: enabling us to read the original French. When we are engaged on such a project, we actually do not care about the beauty of the English translations: we need a trot, pretty much. What matters more, I think, is whether the short stories are worth reading, and here Wallace Fowlie has scored a major triumph. Maupassant's "Menuet" and Balzac's "La Messe de l'Athee" are simply superb, and I look forward to reading the rest!

Dual language (French/English) stories. Page-by-page French on left side, English on right. Voltaire: Micromegas Honore de Balzac: The Atheist's Mass Gustave Flaubert: The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaler Charles Baudelaire: Spleen of Paris (The Old Clown, The Poor Boy's Toy, The Rope) Guy de Maupassant: Minuet Paul Claudel: Death of Judas Andre Gide: The Return of the Prodigal Son Francois Mauriac: Grand-Lebrun Marcel Ayme: The Passer-through-Walls Albert Camus: The Guest

I bought this book for my ailing and flailing French vocabulary. Although I speak fluently, my diminishing vocabulary is directly accredited to my non-use and non-practice of the language. One note - many phrases are translated literally, yet lack the tonality and subtle nuances which are found in true meaning. Otherwise, a very easy read and a useful book for those of us who lack opportunity to speak the language. Would certainly recommend this book for an intermediate level and up.

This book includes some great authors - the ones you should at least know about if you are going to learn the French language and appreciate French culture. I have always loved the idea of having the English translation on the opposite page. I think it makes learning structures easier. You see how we would write something in English, and then you see how the structure differs in the French version.

First read this book in 1960 in college, cost 75 cents. Now relearning French and enjoying the stories, reading first the French and using the opposite page English to check my understanding and translate words and phases I don't know. This is an excellent way to enjoy interesting stories and enlarge one's French painlessly. Ordering a new copy as mine is disintegrating with age (as is the reviewer).