Throughout the world, there has been much scholarly and general interest in French popular culture, but very little has been written on the subject in English. The authors of this book address that lack in a series of highly readable and well-documented essays describing French life styles, attitudes, and entertainments as well as the writers and performers currently favored by the French public.

Several chapters explore French tastes in popular literature and other reading matter, including comics, cartoons, mystery and spy fiction, newspapers and magazines, and science fiction. Film,...