Books
Texts/ Biographies/ Criticism in the Stacks
Catalog Searching Tips
Reference: Bibliographies
Reference: Encyclopedic Dictionaries
Reference Books by Author
Reference: Gale Literary Biographies
Original Texts, English Translations, Author Biographies, & Criticism
Shelved on the fourth floor of the Fenwick Library under the call number
range PQ 22-PQ 2678
Shelved on the third floor of the Johnson Center Library under the call number range PQ 41-PQ 3563, with a few books under PC 2111- PC 3741
On the fifth floor of the Fenwick Library, Z 2171-2178 contains a few bibliographies; but with the exception of the interesting essay collection Bibliographical foundations of French historical studies, the most recent was published in 1968 and none are annotated.
Search the Library Catalog under:
Title of work
Author
Search by an author's name under Subject for criticism. This will be divided into subheadings. For example:
Flaubert, Gustave, 1821-1880 Biography
Flaubert, Gustave, 1821-1880 Characters
Flaubert, Gustave, 1821-1880 Criticism and interpretation
Flaubert, Gustave, 1821-1880 Madame Bovary [with its own subheadings]
Or browse by genre under Subject:
French drama or French poetry, etc. and subheadings
Poets, French etc.
Women novelists, French, etc.
Books and articles not held by the GMU Libraries may be obtained through the WRLC (Washington Research Library Consortium) or Interlibrary Loan.
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The Reference section, on the first floor of the Fenwick Library, is a good place to start your research:
Bibliographies for further resources in French studies, including:
Research and Reference Guide to French Studies, 2nd ed.
Charles B. Osburn
Ref PC 2071 .O8 1981
French Language and Literature: An Annotated Bibliography
Bassan, Spinelli, & Sullivan
Ref PC 2071 .B38
A Critical Bibliography of French Literature
10 Volumes organized by period, and within each volume by genre or author; annotated
Ref PQ 103 .C3
Bibliography of French Seventeenth Century Studies,
later called
French 17: An Annual Descriptive Bibliography of French Seventeenth Century Studies
27 Volumes so far
Ref PQ 245 .M6x
French VI Bibliography for the Study of Nineteenth-Century French Literature
French VII Bibliography for the Study of Contemporary French Literature
French XX Bibliography: A Bibliography for the Study of French Literature and Culture Since 1885
Ref PQ 306 .F7
56 Volumes so far, XX updated annually
Bibliography of Seventeenth-Century French Prose Fiction
R. W. Baldner
Ref PQ 637 .B536 B36 1967
Guide to French Poetry Explication
Kathleen Coleman
Ref PQ 401 .C65 1993
Bibliography by author and then poem
The Medieval Charlemagne Legend: An Annotated Bibliography
Susan E. Farrier
Ref PQ 203.5 .C45 F37 1993
French Literature: An Annotated Guide to Selected Bibliographies
Richard Kempton
Ref PQ 103 .K4 1981
A bibliography of bibliographies
Fenwick Reference Z 2171-2172 (first floor): Bibliographies of French literature, although these are not annotated, and the most recent was published in 1970, so they will probably be of limited use.
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Encyclopedic Dictionaries of French literature, with entries on authors and literary terms, including:
Dictionnaire des littératures de langue française, 3 Volumes
Beaumarchais, Couty, & Rey
Ref PQ 41 .B4 1984
Encyclopedic entries on authors and literary terms/genres, including biographies & chronologies of lives & works; synopses and brief commentaries on major works; extensive bibliographies; color illustrations
Dictionary of Modern French Literature: From the Age of Reason through Realism
Sandra W. Dolbow
Ref PQ 41 .D65 1986
Authors (brief biographies), literary movements (definitions), works (summaries & importance), bibliographies for further reading
The Oxford Companion to French Literature
Sir Paul Harvey & J.E. Heseltine
Ref PQ 41 .H3
Authors, terms, works
(the Johnson Center Library also holds a copy)
The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French
Peter France
Ref PQ .N49 1995 (located in Ready Reference, behind Reference Desk)
Authors with biographies and short bibliographies, terms
Guide to French Literature, 2 Volumes
Anthony Levi
Ref PQ 41 .L48 1992
Extensive biographies of authors with critical overviews of works, including quoted passages, chronologies, bibliographies; genres/terms--extensive definitions and examples
Dictionnaire littéraire des femmes de langue française: De Marie de France a Marie NDiaye
Christiane P. Makward & Madeleine Cottenet-Hage
Ref PQ 149 .M27 1996
Biographies with critical overview of works and bibliographies
French Women Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Source Book
Eva Martin Sartori & Dorothy Wynne Zimmerman
Ref PQ 149 .F73 1991
Includes Major Themes and a Survey of Criticism for each authoress
The Feminist Encyclopedia of French Literature
Eva Martin Sartori
Ref PQ 149 F47 1999
Biographies & bibliographies
Dictionnaire des poètes de la poésie
Jacques Charpentreau & Georges Jean
Ref PQ 403 .C48 1983
Brief biographies and criticism, followed by a selected poem; illustrated
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Reference Books by Author
Simone de Beauvoir: An Annotated Bibliography
Joy Bennett & Gabriella Hochmann
Ref PQ 2603 .E362 Z595x
A Half-Century of Céline: An Annotated Bibliography, 1932-1982
Stanford L. Luce & William K. Buckley
Ref PQ 2607 .E834 ZBL8
(hint: not Céline Dion!)
Dictionnaire Dumas
Réginald Hamel & Pierrette Méthé
Ref PQ 2230 .A15 1990
An Annotated Bibliography of Criticism on André Gide
Catharine Savage Brosman
Ref PQ 2613 .I2 z61246
A Victor Hugo Encyclopedia
John Andrew Frey
Ref PQ 2292 .F73 1999
Victor Hugo's Drama: An Annotated Bibliography, 1900-1980
Ruth Lestha Doyle
Ref PQ 2301 .D69
The Molière Encyclopedia
James F. Gaines
Ref PQ 1851 .M57 2002
The Rabelais Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Chesney Zegura
Ref PQ 1694 .R32 2004
A Rousseau Dictionary
N. J. H. Dent
Ref PQ 2042 .D46
Jean-Paul Sartre: A Bibliographical Guide
Allen Belkind
Ref PQ 2637 .A7 ZBB4
The Jules Verne Encyclopedia
Brian Taves & Stephen Michaluk, Jr.
Ref PQ 2469 .Z5 T38 1996
Bibliographie de la critique sur Emile Zola, 1864-1970
David Baguley
Ref PQ 2528 .B33
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Gale Literary Biographies
Many of the volumes in Gale's Dictionary of Literary Biography series feature French writers and literary periods. These can be found in the call number range Ref PS 21 D48:
French Novelists, 1930-1960, Volume 72
Nineteenth-Century French Fiction Writers: Naturalism and Beyond, Volume 123
French Dramatists, 1789-1914, Volume 192
Literature of the French and Occitan Middle Ages: Eleventh to Fifteenth Century, Volume 208
Nineteenth Century French Poets, Volume 217
Modern French Poets, Volume 258
Seventeenth-Century French Writers, Volume 268
Gustave Flaubert: A Documentary Volume, Volume 301
Writers of the French Enlightenment, Volume 313
Related Reference Sources
Modern French Literature
Eds. Debra & Michael Popkin
2 Volumes of collected literary criticism
Ref PQ 306 .M57
300 héros et personnages du roman français
Pierre Ajame
2 Volumes, pre-19th century & 19th century to present
Ref PQ 653 .A16
Biographical sketches of French literary characters, including "Domicile, Aspect physique, Profession, Vie sexuelle et sentimentale, Mort."
French Women Playwrights of the Twentieth Century: A Checklist
Cecilia Beach
Ref PQ 509 .B433 1996
Lists of plays by author
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Databases
Many of the literary Databases which you may have used in your English courses also contain criticism on French authors and texts. These resources are GMU Restricted. Click on a database below, and then scroll down to its name in the alphabetical list produced. If you are off-campus, you will be prompted to provide your username and password (the same ones you use to access your Mason email account).
ARTFL
"The American and French Research on the Treasury of the French Language Project contains approximately 2,000 French texts (primarily from the 18th through 20th centuries), reference works, and subject bibliographies."
Arts & Humanities Citation Index
"A multidisciplinary database covering the journal literature of the arts and humanities. Indexes 1,100 of the world's leading arts and humanities journals."
ITER - Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance
This project from the University of Toronto features a comprehensive bibliography of literature pertaining to the period 400-1700: books, articles, reviews, essays, conference proceedings, and more. Also includes many full-text issues of the scholarly journals Renaissance Quarterly and the bilingual Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Réforme.
JSTOR
"The complete text (full back runs) of core scholarly journals in Anthropology, Asian Studies, Ecology, Economics, Education, Finance, History, Mathematics, Philosophy, Political Science, Population Studies and Sociology."
Literature Resource Center
"Full-text biographies, bibliographies, and critical analyses of more than 120,000 writers from a variety of periods and disciplines."
MLA International Bibliography
"Indexes scholarly works (journal articles, monographs, book chapters, dissertation abstracts, and series) on literature, languages, linguistics and folklore."
Project Muse
"Offers 250 journal titles from 40 scholarly publishers. One of the academic community's primary electronic journals resources, it covers the fields of literature and criticism, history, visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, and others."
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Web Sites
ABU: la bibliothèque universelle
L'Association des Bibliophiles Universels has made numerous classic texts available online, searchable by author or title.
Athena: Textes français
A treasure trove of French texts organized by author. Includes both foreign works translated into French and French works translated into English.
La Clé: Répertoire des procédés littéraires
Literary theory in French, including a list of genres with examples and characteristics. From the Université de Montréal.
Collection de textes
From the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Choose Florilège de la poésie française or Foire aux textes and select an author. Includes downloadable, printable files.
Fabula
"La recherche en littérature," in particular literary theory and fiction criticism, including the online journal Acta Fabula.
French: Authors & Texts
An excellent resource compiled by the Harvard University Library. Includes detailed links to web sites on authors and literary movements from the 16th to the 19th centuries.
Gallica
A large collection of texts and images from the holdings of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, including literary classics from the Middle Ages to the 19th century.
Lexique des termes littéraires
A glossary of literary terms in French.
La littérature française et francophone
A fine web guide on French literary topics and authors, a nice companion piece to Harvard's "French: Authors & Texts" because it covers the Middle Ages and the twentieth century. From the University of Münster, Germany (although the pages are in French).
Old French Literature
Contains an overview of and links to texts from the ninth to the fourteenth centuries in France.
Ressources en études françaises
An excellent compilation by the Bibliothèque (Library) at the Université de Montréal, including links to web sites on individual authors (click on "Auteurs de A à Z" on the left toolbar) and on specific periods (click on "Histoire littéraire").
Théorie de la littérature
A discussion of literary theory and history in French, from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada.
University of Virginia Electronic Text Center: French Language Resources
Online texts listed by author. Though many are accessible only to UVa students, some are available to the public.
Voice of the Shuttle
An excellent page of links to online French texts, general databases as well as sites by time period and author.
Saviez-vous? Did you know?
Alexandre Dumas, père (1802-1870), prolific author of the perennially popular The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, was a quadroon: his grandmother was an African slave in Haiti. For more on Dumas, click here.
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