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us is one of extraordinary wealth. France, it is true, has given to the world no genius of the colossal stature and universal power of Shakespeare. But, then, where is the equal of Shakespeare to be found? Not even in the glorious literature of Greece herself. Putting out of account such an immeasurable magnitude, the number of writers of the first rank produced by France can be paralleled in only one other modern literature that of England. The record is, indeed, a splendid one which contains, in poetry and drama, the names of Villon, Ronsard, Corneille, Molière, Racine, La Fontaine, Chénier, Lamartine, Hugo, Vigny, Gautier, Baudelaire, Verlaine; and in prose those of Froissart, Rabelais, Montaigne, Pascal, Bossuet, La Rochefoucauld, La Bruyère, Montesquieu, Saint-Simon, Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, Chateaubriand, Balzac, Flaubert, and Maupassant. And, besides this great richness and variety, another consideration gives a peculiar value to the literature of France. More than that of any other nation in Europe, it is distinctive and individual; if it had never existed, the literature of the world would have been bereft of certain qualities of the highest worth which France alone has been able to produce. Where else could we

find the realism which would replace that of Stendhal and Balzac, Flaubert, and Maupassant? Where else should we look for the brilliant lucidity and consummate point which Voltaire has given us? Or the force and the precision that glow in Pascal? Or the passionate purity that blazes in Racine?

Finally, if we would seek for the essential spirit of French literature, where shall we discover it? In its devotion to truth? In its love of rhetoric? In its clarity? In its generalising power? All these qualities are peculiarly its own, but, beyond and above them, there is another which controls and animates the rest. The one high principle which, through so many generations, has guided like a star the writers of France is the principle of deliberation, of intention, of a conscious search for ordered beauty; an unwavering, an indomitable pursuit of the endless glories of art.

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF AUTHORS

AND THEIR PRINCIPAL WORKS

I. Middle Ages.

CHANSONS DE GESTE, eleventh to thirteenth centuries.
Chanson de Roland, circa 1080.

ROMANS BRETONS, twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
CHRÉTIEN DE TROYES, Wrote circa 1170-1180.
FABLIAUX, twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

Roman de Renard, thirteenth century.
Aucassin et Nicolete, circa thirteenth century.
VILLEHARDOUIN, d. 1213.

Conquête de Constantinople, 1205–1213.

GUILLAUME DE LORRIS (?)

Roman de la Rose (first part), circa 1237.

JEAN DE MEUNG, d. 1305.

Roman de la Rose (second part), 1277.

JOINVILLE, 1224–1319.

Vie de Saint Louis, 1309.
FROISSART, 1337-circa 1410.
Chroniques, 1373–1400.
VILLON, 1431– (?)

Grand Testament, 1461.
COMMYNES, circa 1447-1511.
Mémoires, 1488-1498.

II. Renaissance.

MAROT, 1496-1544.

RABELAIS, circa 1500-1553.

RONSARD, 1524-1585.

DU BELLAY, 1525-1560.

Défense et Illustration de la Langue Française, 1549.

JODELLE, 1532–1573.

Cléopâtre, 1552.

MONTAIGNE, 1533-1592.

Essays, 1580-1588.

III. Age of Transition.
MALHERBE, 1555–1628.
Odes, 1607-1628.
HARDY, circa 1570-1631.
Tragedies, 1593-1630.
ACADEMY, founded 1629.
CORNEILLE, 1606–1684.
Le Cid, 1636.

Horace, 1640.
Cinna, 1640.

Polyeucte, 1643.

PASCAL, 1623–1662.

Lettres Provinciales, 1656-1657.

Pensées, first edition 1670, first complete edition 1844.

IV. Age of Louis XIV.

MOLIÈRE, 1622–1673.

Les Précieuses Ridicules, 1659.

L'École des Femmes, 1662.
Tartufe, 1664.

Le Misanthrope, 1666.

Le Malade Imaginaire, 1673.
LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, 1613-1689.
Maximes, 1665.

BOILEAU, 1636–1711.

Satires, 1666.

Art Poétique, 1674.

RACINE, 1639-1699.

Andromaque, 1667.
Phèdre, 1677.

Athalie, 1691.

LA FONTAINE, 1621–1695.

Fables, 1668-1692.

BOSSUET, 1627-1704.

Oraisons Funèbres, 1669-1687.

Histoire Universelle, 1681.

MADAME DE SÉVIGNÉ, 1626-1696.
Letters, 1671-1696.

MADAME DE LAFAYETTE, 1634-1696.
La Princesse de Clèves, 1678.
LA BRUYÈRE, 1645-1696.

Les Caractères, 1688–1694.

V. Eighteenth Century.

FONTENELLE, 1657-1757.

Histoire des Oracles, 1687.
BAYLE, 1647-1706.

Dictionnaire Historique et Critique, 1697.
FENELON, 1651-1713.

Télémaque, 1699.

MONTESQUIEU, 1689–1755.

Lettres Persanes, 1721.

Esprit des Lois, 1748.
VOLTAIRE, 1694-1778.
Henriade, 1723.
Zaïre, 1732.

Lettres Philosophiques, 1734.
Essai sur les Maurs, 1751-1756.
Candide, 1759.

Dictionnaire Philosophique, 1764.
Dialogues, etc., 1755-1778.

LE SAGE, 1668-1747.

Gil Blas, 1715-1735.

MARIVAUX, 1688-1763.

Vie de Marianne, 1731-1741.

Jeu de l'Amour et du Hasard, 1734.
SAINT-SIMON, 1675-1755.

Mémoires, begun 1740, first edition 1830.
DIDEROT, 1713-1784.

Encyclopédie, 1751-1780.

La Réligieuse, first edition 1796.

Neveu de Rameau, first edition 1823.

ROUSSEAU, 1712-1778.

Nouvelle Héloïse, 1761.

Contrat Social, 1762.

Confessions, first edition 1781-1788.

BEAUMARCHAIS, 1732-1799.

Mariage de Figaro, 1784.

CONDORCET, 1743-1794.

Progrès de l'Esprit Humain, 1794.
CHÉNIER, 1762-1794.

Poems, 1790-1794, first edition 1819.

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