French literature
French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than F ...
. It remains an active and productive genre which has evolved in conjunction with
anglophone
Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the ''Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest language ...
science fiction and other French and international literature.
Cyrano de Bergerac
Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac ( , ; 6 March 1619 – 28 July 1655) was a French novelist, playwright, epistolarian, and duelist.
A bold and innovative author, his work was part of the libertine literature of the first half of the 17th cen ...
's ''
Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon
''The Other World: Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon'' (french: L’Autre monde ou les états et empires de la Lune) was the first of three satirical novels written by Cyrano de Bergerac. It was published posthumously in 1657 ...
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—es ...
Plato's Dream "Plato's Dream" (original French title "Songe de Platon") is a 1756 short story written in the 18th century by the French philosopher and satirist Voltaire. Along with his 1752 novella '' Micromégas'', "Plato's Dream" is among the first modern wor ...
'' are particularly prophetic of the future of science fiction.
Also worthy of note are Simon Tyssot de Patot's ''Voyages et Aventures de Jacques Massé'' (1710), which features a
Lost World
The lost world is a subgenre of the fantasy or science fiction genres that involves the discovery of an unknown Earth civilization. It began as a subgenre of the late- Victorian adventure romance and remains popular into the 21st century.
The ...
, ''La Vie, Les Aventures et Le Voyage de Groenland du Révérend Père Cordelier Pierre de Mésange'' (1720), which features a
Hollow Earth
The Hollow Earth is a concept proposing that the planet Earth is entirely hollow or contains a substantial interior space. Notably suggested by Edmond Halley in the late 17th century, the notion was disproven, first tentatively by Pierre Bougue ...
,
Louis-Sébastien Mercier
Louis-Sébastien Mercier (6 June 1740 – 25 April 1814) was a French dramatist and writer, whose 1771 novel ''L'An 2440'' is an example of proto-science fiction.
Early life and education
He was born in Paris to a humble family: his father was a ...
's ''L'An 2440'' (1771), which depicts a future France, and Nicolas-Edmé Restif de la Bretonne's ''La Découverte Australe par un Homme Volant'' (1781) known for his prophetic inventions.
Other notable proto-science fiction authors and works of the 18th and 19th century include:
*
Jean-Baptiste Cousin de Grainville
Jean-Baptiste François Xavier Cousin De Grainville (3 April 1746 – 1 February 1805) was a French writer who wrote a seminal work of fantasy literature: '' Le Dernier Homme'' (''The Last Man'') (1805). This was the first modern novel to depict ...
's ''
Le Dernier Homme
''Le Dernier Homme'' (English: ''The Last Man'') is a French science fantasy novel in the form of a prose poem. Written by Jean-Baptiste Cousin de Grainville and published in 1805, it was the first story of modern speculative fiction to depict ...
'' (1805) about the Last Man on Earth.
* Historian Félix Bodin's ''Le Roman de l'Avenir'' (1834) and Emile Souvestre's ''Le Monde Tel Qu'il Sera'' (1846), two novels which try to predict what the next century will be like.
* Louis Geoffroy's ''Napoleon et la Conquête du Monde'' (1836), an alternate history of a world conquered by
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
.
*
C.I. Defontenay
Charlemagne Ischir Defontenay, writing as C.I. Defontenay (1819–1856), was a French science fiction writer. His ''Star, ou Psi Cassiopea'' of 1854 is seen by some as an example of proto-space opera. Others see Defontenay as a predecessor of Olaf ...
's ''Star ou Psi de Cassiopée'' (1854), an
Olaf Stapledon
William Olaf Stapledon (10 May 1886 – 6 September 1950) – known as Olaf Stapledon – was a British philosopher and author of science fiction.Andy Sawyer, " illiamOlaf Stapledon (1886-1950)", in Bould, Mark, et al, eds. ''Fifty Key Figures ...
-like chronicle of an alien world and civilization.
* Astronomer
Camille Flammarion
Nicolas Camille Flammarion FRAS (; 26 February 1842 – 3 June 1925) was a French astronomer and author. He was a prolific author of more than fifty titles, including popular science works about astronomy, several notable early science fic ...
's ''La Pluralité des Mondes Habités'' (1862) which speculated on extraterrestrial life.
*Henri de Parville's ''An Inhabitant of the Planet Mars''. Originally a hoax in the French newspaper Le Pays in 1864, about a Colorado oil prospector who finds a meteorite with a mummy inside that is believed to come from Mars; it was later published in an expanded book version by Jules Verne's publisher during 1865.
*Achille Eyraud's ''Voyage to Venus'' (1865), a story about humans who travel to Venus in an interplanetary rocket-powered spaceship, where they find an utopian society.
However, modern French science fiction, and arguably science fiction as a whole, begins with Jules Verne (1828–1905), the author of many of the classics of science fiction.
After Jules Verne
The first few decades of French science fiction produced several renowned names of literature. Not only Jules Verne, but also:
* Louis Boussenard, a successor of Verne.
* Didier de Chousy, who wrote ''Ignis'' (1883), a novel such that an inventor tries to tap the energy from the centre of the earth in a dystopian society dominated by technology.
*
Charles Derennes
Charles Derennes (4 August 1882 – 27 April 1930) was a French novelist, essayist and poet, the winner of the Prix Femina in 1924.
Biography
Derennes was born in Charente, the son of Gustave, a professor of history, and Marthe Cassan, the dau ...
(1882–1930), who wrote novels like '' Le peuple du pole'' (1907) (The People of the Pole), where explorers find a secret alien society of technologically-advanced reptilian humanoids who have evolved in isolation from the rest of the world for millions of years.
* Arnould Galopin, creator of Doctor Omega (1906).
*
Jean de La Hire
Jean de La Hire (pseudonym of the Comte Adolphe-Ferdinand Celestin d'Espie de La Hire) (28 January 1878 – 5 September 1956) was a prolific French author of numerous popular adventure, science fiction and romance novels.
Adolphe d'Espie was b ...
, creator of ''
Nyctalope
The Nyctalope, alias Léo Saint-Clair, is a pulp fiction hero created by French writer Jean de La Hire in 1911. He may be the first cyborg (an individual with both organic and mechanical body parts) in literature and is seen as a significant prec ...
''
* Paul d'Ivoi, author of the Vernian ''Voyages Excentriques'' and creator of
Pulp hero
Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...
Prix Goncourt
The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward o ...
in 1903 for his science fiction novel Enemy Force.
* Georges Le Faure & Henri de Graffigny, who sent their heroes explore the Solar System in ''Les Aventures Extraordinaires d'un Savant Russe'' (1888)
*
Gustave Le Rouge
Gustave Henri Joseph Le Rouge (22 July 1867 - 24 February 1938) was a French writer who embodied the evolution of modern science fiction at the beginning of the 20th century, by moving it away from the juvenile adventures of Jules Verne and in ...
Albert Robida
Albert Robida (14 May 1848 – 11 October 1926) was a French illustrator, etcher, lithographer, caricaturist, and novelist. He edited and published '' La Caricature'' magazine for 12 years. Through the 1880s, he wrote an acclaimed trilogy of fut ...
, a writer and an artist, arguably the main initiator of science fiction illustration.
*
Maurice Renard
Maurice Renard (28 February 1875, Châlons-en-Champagne – 18 November 1939, Rochefort-Sur-Mer) was a French writer.
Career
Renard authored the archetypal mad scientist novel '' Le Docteur Lerne, sous-dieu'' r. Lerne - Undergod(1908), wh ...
, a Wellsian writer, author of ''Le Docteur Lerne'' (1908), '' Le Péril Bleu'' (1910) and ''Les Mains d'Orlac'' ("The Hands of Orlac", 1920).
* J.-H. Rosny aîné, born in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
, a major developer of "modern" French science fiction, a writer comparable to
The Time Machine
''The Time Machine'' is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895. The work is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively for ...
'' was translated into French by Henry D. Davray in 1895 as the first of his works, succeeded soon by other translations of his stories,The Reception of H.G. Wells in Europe /ref> influencing French science fiction writers such as Maurice Renard.
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
brought an end to this early period. While the rapid development of science and technology during the late 19th century motivated the optimistic works of early science fiction authors, the horrors of industrialised warfare and specifically the application of advanced technologies in such a destructive manner made many later French authors more pessimistic about the potential of technological development.
Between the two world wars, Rosny aîné published his masterpiece ''Les Navigateurs de l'Infini'' (1924), in which he invented the word "astronautique". There were a few notable new authors during the period:
*
Régis Messac
Régis Messac (2 August 1893 – 1945) was a French essayist, poet and translator.
Published works
;Studies
* '' Le « Detective Novel » et l'influence de la pensée scientifique'' (1929) ; new edition, corrected and annotated, preface by C ...
Until the late 1950s, relatively little French science fiction was published, and what was published was often very pessimistic about the future of humanity, and was frequently not advertised as "science fiction" at all.
René Barjavel
René Barjavel (24 January 1911 – 24 November 1985) was a French author, journalist and critic who may have been the first to think of the grandfather paradox in time travel. He was born in Nyons, a town in the Drôme department in southeastern ...
's ''Ravage'' (1943) and
Pierre Boulle
Pierre François Marie Louis Boulle (20 February 1912 – 30 January 1994) was a French novelist best known for two works, '' The Bridge over the River Kwai'' (1952) and ''Planet of the Apes'' (1963), that were both made into award-winning films. ...
's ''
Planet of the Apes
''Planet of the Apes'' is an American science fiction media franchise consisting of films, books, television series, comics, and other media about a world in which humans and intelligent apes clash for control. The franchise is based on Frenc ...
'' (1963) are examples well known.
This period of decrease of French science fiction (abbreviated ''SF'') is considered by many to be a "golden age" of English-language and particularly American science fiction. When French science fiction began reappearing strongly after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, it was the themes and styles of Anglophone science fiction which served as an inspiration for new works. The first genre magazine, ''Fiction'' – at first a translation of the American '' Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' – began appearing during 1953.
The major genre imprint of the 1950s and '60s publishing translations of American novels was ''Le Rayon Fantastique'' published by
Hachette Hachette may refer to:
* Hachette (surname)
* Hachette (publisher), a French publisher, the imprint of Lagardère Publishing
** Hachette Book Group, the American subsidiary
** Hachette Distribution Services, the distribution arm
See also
* Hachett ...
Anticipation
Anticipation is an emotion involving pleasure or anxiety in considering or awaiting an expected event. Anticipatory emotions include fear, anxiety, hope and trust. When the anticipated event fails to occur, it results in disappointment (if posit ...
, a paperback series devoted mostly to French authors which released a steady series of
pulp
Pulp may refer to:
* Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit
Engineering
* Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture
* Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper
* Molded pulp, a packaging material
...
René Barjavel
René Barjavel (24 January 1911 – 24 November 1985) was a French author, journalist and critic who may have been the first to think of the grandfather paradox in time travel. He was born in Nyons, a town in the Drôme department in southeastern ...
Later, many major names of French science fiction were printed first by that company.
Another series, ''Présence du Futur'', was initiated during 1954 by publisher Denoël. Among its authors were:
*
Jean-Pierre Andrevon
Jean-Pierre Andrevon (born 19 September 1937 in Bourgoin-Jallieu, Isère) is a French science fiction author, as well as a painter and singer. He has used the pseudonym ''Alphonse Brutsche'' for novels published under the Fleuve Noir label. In a ...
*
Jean-Louis Curtis
Jean-Louis Curtis (22 May 1917 – 11 November 1995), pseudonym of Albert Laffitte, was a French novelist best known for his second novel '' The Forests of the Night'' (French: ''Les Forêts de la nuit''), which won France's highest literary award ...
*Gérard Klein
*
Jacques Sternberg
Jacques Sternberg (April 17, 1923, Antwerp, Belgium – October 11, 2006, Paris) was a French-language writer of science fiction and
''fantastique''.
Biography
Sternberg was born to a well-to-do Russian-Jewish family. He was a poor student in ...
*
Jacques Vallee
Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...
(writing under the pseudonym of "Jérôme Sériel")
During this era, there was very little mainstream critical interest for French SF. French cinema, however, proved to be more successful for science fiction. Jean-Luc Godard's 1965 movie '' Alphaville''—- a thriller and satire of French politics—- was the first major example of French " New Wave" science fiction.
Unlike American science fiction, space travel was not the major theme for the post-1968 French authors. A new generation of French writers, who had few memories of the horrors of the past two generations, were inspired by the transformation of France during the post-war era. Especially after May 1968, French SF authors wrote about political and social themes in their works. Authors like Michel Jeury, Jean-Pierre Andrevon and Philippe Curval began to attract acclaim for their redevelopment of a genre which, at the time, was still considered primarily a juvenile entertainment.
During the 1970s, comics began to be important for French SF. '' Métal hurlant''—- the French magazine that was imitated as the American magazine '' Heavy Metal'' –- began developing the possibilities of science fiction as a source for
cartoons
A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...
.
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...
s are now a major— if not ''the'' major— outlet for French science fiction production today.
During the 1980s, French authors began to consider science fiction as appropriate for experimental literature. The influence of postmodernism on literature and the development of
cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and c ...
themes catalysed a new body of French SF, near the end of the decade: the so-called "Lost Generation" (represented by such writers as Claude Ecken, Michel Pagel, Jean-Marc Ligny or Roland C. Wagner)
At present, French SF is particularly well represented by
graphic novels
A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...
, and a number of titles are printed annually. As in most of the developed world, magazine culture has decreased dramatically because of the internet, but a number of French SF magazines remain in print, including '' Bifrost'', '' Galaxies'' and '' Solaris''. Despite the space opera revival of the beginning of the 1990s (Ayerdhal, Serge Lehman, Pierre Bordage, Laurent Genefort) the influence from English language science fiction and movies has diminished considerably since the "Lost Generation", while the influence of animation, video games and other international science fiction traditions (German, Italian) has increased. The influence of Japanese manga and
anime
is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...
has also been particularly noticeable during recent years for graphic formats.
Other notable French science fiction authors, post-World War II
Pierre Bordage
Pierre Bordage (born 29 January 1955 in La Réorthe, Vendée) is a French science fiction author. He won the Cosmos 2000 prize in 1996 for his novel ''La Citadelle Hyponéros''.
Pierre Bordage is one of France's best-selling science fiction writ ...
*
Serge Brussolo
Serge Brussolo (born 31 May 1951) is a French fiction author.
Biography
Born in Paris, Brussolo had a tormented childhood. He studied letters and psychology and wrote his first texts very early, finding inspiration in his misery and disturbed fa ...
Michel Demuth
Michel Demuth (1939–2006), born in Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the riv ...
Joël Houssin
Joël Houssin (born 1953) is a French author of science fiction, fantasy, and crime fiction. Two of his novels have won the Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire. He also wrote the film ''Dobermann'', based on his series of police novels, and created the cri ...
Jean-Marc Ligny
Jean-Marc Ligny (born 13 May 1956) is a French science fiction writer. He began in 1978 and went on to win both the Prix Rosny-Aîné and the Prix Tour Eiffel de Science-Fiction. He has done notable works of cyberpunk and space opera. He is also ...
*
Xavier Mauméjean
Xavier Mauméjean (born 30 December 1963) is a French writer. He teaches philosophy at a high school in Valenciennes, Northern France.
Books in French
* ''Les Mémoires de l'Homme-Eléphant'', Le Masque (2000)
* ''Gotham'', Le Masque (2002)
* '' ...
Élisabeth Vonarburg
Élisabeth Vonarburg (born 5 August 1947) is a science fiction writer. She was born in Paris (France) and has lived in Chicoutimi (now Saguenay), Quebec, Canada since 1973.
From 1979 to 1990 she was the literary director of the French-Canadian ...
Bernard Werber
Bernard Werber (born 1961 in Toulouse) is a French science fiction writer, active since the 1990s. He is chiefly recognized for having written the trilogy ''Les Fourmis'', the only one of his novels to have been published in English. This se ...
Prix Rosny-Aîné
The Prix Rosny-Aîné is a literary prize for French science fiction. It has been awarded annually since 1980 in two categories: best novel and best short fiction.
Best Novel Winners
*1980 : Michel Jeury, for ''Le territoire humain''
*1981 : Mic ...
Jean-Marc Lofficier
Jean-Marc Lofficier (; born June 22, 1954) is a French author of books about films and television programs, as well as numerous comics and translations of a number of animation screenplays. He usually collaborates with his wife, Randy Lofficier ( ...
&
Randy Lofficier
Jean-Marc Lofficier (; born June 22, 1954) is a French author of books about films and television programs, as well as numerous comics and translations of a number of animation screenplays. He usually collaborates with his wife, Randy Lofficier ( ...