Baudelaire's "Les Fleurs du Mal" marks the intrusion of modernity into the French poetic tradition. The carefully ordered collection (here presented in its 1861 edition) betrays a frighteningly honest poet grappling witha sense of his own deep spiritual imperfection, a recognition too of his creative difficulty and an ambivalent teetering on the boundary between the radical and the conservative. As no other poet had done before (and only a few have managed since), Baudelaire sustains in a single collection an exploration of sin, suffering, love, sexual desire, memory, beauty, the city, and...

In Moliere's famous satire, Tartuffe, a religious hypocrite, tries to get title to his friend's estate by sending him to jail. The play proved both controversial and influential. In this student edition the French text is supplemented by a useful English introduction and notes on the text.

This volume, which takes account of the latest scholarship, consists of an introduction to Voltaire and to Candide, the French text and textual notes, and a short bibliography.

Cyrano de Bergerac struck a responsive chord when first performed in 1897. Its unashamed glorification of panache, the heroic individualism of a bygone age allied to an unimpeachable ethical code, flattered and soothed a country shaken by war and financial scandals, and low in self-esteem.
With great empathy, the devout Rostand portrays a proud freethinker who, in a world where little can be cured and much has to be endured, is always equal to the situation, at least linguistically. This delicate balance between humour and pathos is an example of the rare genre of comedie...

A critical edition of "Le Misanthrope." The introduction examines the interlocking levels of comedy apparent both in the play's literary texture and in the original performance, and discusses the history of its reception, showing how it is constantly adapted to the values of changing times.

This is a title in the Bristol Classical Press French Texts series, in French with English notes, vocabulary and introduction. This anthology of poems by Pierre de Ronsard contains light poetry, such as witty love poems and Horatian inspired poems on the joys of nature, as well as philosophical and meditative poetry. The introduction situates Ronsard in his literary and historical context, and the notes give the modern reader help in appreciating a 16th-century text.