Poemes, Pieces, Prose: Introduction A L'Analyse de Textes Litteraires Francais

This is a very good book for a general overview of french litterature, however, there is a gross misrepresentation of women authors which had an impact on french writting throughout the centuries but are not shown in this book.

This textbook is a good text to prepare students to use their French language skills to study and think about French literature. The editors have chosen works that are at the center of the French literary canon. They also do a good job framing the texts with information about the author and his critical perspective. The reason I cannot give it 5 stars is that it lacks a diversity of authors and has poor analytic support material. There are not any female authors or authors who do not represent Franco-French literature. Professors wanting to expose students to the diversity of Francophone literature will need to supplement the text with readings for North African (including Camus), West African, and Caribbean French literature, as well as literature by Francophone women. The questions that accompany each text are often of poor quality and do not challenge students to engage with texts, and the footnote translations often lead the students away from the spirit of the text with very literal translations.