Favorite French Novel - cougarguard.com — unofficial BYU Cougars / LDS sports, football, basketball forum and message board

Archaea · 05-18-2008, 05:13 PM

There are many so listing a few is unfair, but what the hell, I'll give it a try. Not the highest quality novel, but your favorite, if I don't and probably won't list it. I should have put Proust's "In Search of Lost Time," but I haven't read it, so it could not be named.

TripletDaddy · 05-18-2008, 05:51 PM

What? No Camus?

Doubtful that you are l'estranger to his work. What gives?

il Padrino Ute · 05-18-2008, 08:05 PM

My vote is for The Count of Monte Cristo.

Archaea · 05-18-2008, 08:47 PM

L'Etranger is a good work, but it's not my favorite. French existentialism is interesting nonetheless.

TripletDaddy · 05-18-2008, 09:28 PM

I like him a lot. He is an interesting persona.

The Plague, The Fall, The Rebel, and several of his other essays are all very interesting.

My favorite French book is my favorite book of all time...Les Miserables.

SeattleUte · 05-18-2008, 09:37 PM

Madame Bovary is often mentioned as a contender with War and Peace and Anna Karenina for greatest novel ever written. It has the most dusturbing scene I've ever read in literature. Someone you've come to care about slowly dies of arsenic poisoning over an entire chapter, amid the most thoughtless and incompetent efforts to ease her spiritual torment and suffering. I think I see the world in much the same way as did Flaubert.

This "poll" is of course missing a zillion contenders including masterworks by not only Camus but Stendahl and others.

Archaea · 05-18-2008, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

Madame Bovary is often mentioned as a contender with War and Peace and Anna Karenina for greatest novel ever written. It has the most dusturbing scene I've ever read in literature. Someone you've come to care about slowly dies of arsenic poisoning over an entire chapter, amid the most thoughtless and incompetent efforts to ease her spiritual torment and suffering. I think I see the world in much the same way as did Flaubert.

This "poll" is of course missing a zillion contenders including masterworks by not only Camus but Stendahl and others.

Have you read Pardonnez nos offenses, or Forgive our sins. It seems to me a novel which you would enjoy if you have not read it. Set in the thirteenth century France southwest of France. Fascinating view of the mixture of religion, philosophy and mysticism as it were.

The problem with picking several favorite French novels is the sheer volume which have made it into English speaking mainstream. With Russians, we're not being invaded at the same rate.

I can't even name the same number of Spanish language novels and certainly not from Italian or any other language.

Chinese works are interesting that have made it into translation.

So you grew to care about Emma? I found her too self-absorbed and much preferred Anna Karenina to Emmay Bovary, but Flaubert's "le mot juste" makes the French fun to read. I wish I read Russian but alas we'll have to rely upon Mudphud Coug.

SeattleUte · 05-19-2008, 03:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Archaea

Have you read Pardonnez nos offenses, or Forgive our sins. It seems to me a novel which you would enjoy if you have not read it. Set in the thirteenth century France southwest of France. Fascinating view of the mixture of religion, philosophy and mysticism as it were.

The problem with picking several favorite French novels is the sheer volume which have made it into English speaking mainstream. With Russians, we're not being invaded at the same rate.

I can't even name the same number of Spanish language novels and certainly not from Italian or any other language.

Chinese works are interesting that have made it into translation.

So you grew to care about Emma? I found her too self-absorbed and much preferred Anna Karenina to Emmay Bovary, but Flaubert's "le mot juste" makes the French fun to read. I wish I read Russian but alas we'll have to rely upon Mudphud Coug.

One thing Flaubert does so brilliantly is make the religious and modernists/atheists alike look foolish, and as two sides of the same coin. Tolstoy does much the same thing. Flaubert in Madame Bovary seems more spare and effortless than AK. I think MB must have hugely influenced Tolstoy. In the end Tolstoy is more judgmental of Anna, I think, though he condemns Russian high society no less. Tolstoy has a heavier hand. MB came first but feels more contemporary to me.

Parrot Head · 05-20-2008, 02:07 AM

So, did any of those Emmanuelle movies come from novels?

ute4ever · 05-20-2008, 02:47 AM

This thread has 108 views but only 9 votes. See you should have included Babar the elephant.

View Poll Results: Favorite French Novel
Madame Bovary	2	20.00%
Les Miserables	6	60.00%
The Hunchback of Notre Dame	1	10.00%
Les amities particulieres	0	0%
Paul et Virginie	0	0%
Three Laws of Robotic Sexuality	0	0%
Baise-Moi	0	0%
Pardonnez nos offenses, "Forgive Our Sins" Seattle you might like this one	1	10.00%
Voters: 10. You may not vote on this poll

05-18-2008, 05:13 PM	#1
Archaea Assistant to the Regional Manager Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: The Orgasmatron Posts: 24,338	Favorite French Novel There are many so listing a few is unfair, but what the hell, I'll give it a try. Not the highest quality novel, but your favorite, if I don't and probably won't list it. I should have put Proust's "In Search of Lost Time," but I haven't read it, so it could not be named. __________________ Ἓν οἶδα ὅτι οὐδὲν οἶδα Last edited by Archaea; 05-18-2008 at 05:23 PM.

05-18-2008, 05:51 PM	#2
TripletDaddy Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Orange County, CA Posts: 9,483	What? No Camus? Doubtful that you are l'estranger to his work. What gives? __________________ Fitter. Happier. More Productive. "Everyone is against me. Everyone is fawning for 3D's attention and defending him." -- SeattleUte

05-18-2008, 08:05 PM	#3
il Padrino Ute Board Pinhead Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: In the basement of my house, Murray, Utah. Posts: 15,941	My vote is for The Count of Monte Cristo. __________________ "The beauty of baseball is not having to explain it." - Chuck Shriver "This is now the joke that stupid people laugh at." - Christopher Hitchens on IQ jokes about GWB.

05-18-2008, 08:47 PM	#4
Archaea Assistant to the Regional Manager Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: The Orgasmatron Posts: 24,338	L'Etranger is a good work, but it's not my favorite. French existentialism is interesting nonetheless. __________________ Ἓν οἶδα ὅτι οὐδὲν οἶδα

05-18-2008, 09:28 PM	#5
TripletDaddy Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Orange County, CA Posts: 9,483	I like him a lot. He is an interesting persona. The Plague, The Fall, The Rebel, and several of his other essays are all very interesting. My favorite French book is my favorite book of all time...Les Miserables. __________________ Fitter. Happier. More Productive. "Everyone is against me. Everyone is fawning for 3D's attention and defending him." -- SeattleUte

05-18-2008, 09:37 PM	#6
SeattleUte fairlds.org Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 10,665	Madame Bovary is often mentioned as a contender with War and Peace and Anna Karenina for greatest novel ever written. It has the most dusturbing scene I've ever read in literature. Someone you've come to care about slowly dies of arsenic poisoning over an entire chapter, amid the most thoughtless and incompetent efforts to ease her spiritual torment and suffering. I think I see the world in much the same way as did Flaubert. This "poll" is of course missing a zillion contenders including masterworks by not only Camus but Stendahl and others. __________________ Interrupt all you like. We're involved in a complicated story here, and not everything is quite what it seems to be. —Paul Auster Last edited by SeattleUte; 05-18-2008 at 09:42 PM.

05-20-2008, 02:07 AM	#9
Parrot Head Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 763	So, did any of those Emmanuelle movies come from novels? __________________ Oh, he's very popular Ed. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, waistoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude. - Bronco, when asked how to describe PH

05-20-2008, 02:47 AM	#10
ute4ever I must not tell lies Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 5,103	This thread has 108 views but only 9 votes. See you should have included Babar the elephant.