John D. Lyons - French Literature: A Very Short Introduction

VERY SHORT INTRODUCTIONS are for anyone wanting a stimulating and accessible way into a new subject. They are written by experts, and have been published in more than 25 languages worldwide.

The series began in 1995, and now represents a wide variety of topics in history, philosophy, religion, science, and the humanities. The VSI Library now contains over 200 volumes-a Very Short Introduction to everything from ancient Egypt and Indian philosophyto conceptual art and cosmology-and will continue to grow to a library of around 300 titles.

Very Short Introductions available now:

AFRICAN HISTORY John Parker and Richard Rathbone

AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES AND ELECTIONS L. Sandy Maisel

THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY Charles O. Jones

ANARCHISM Colin Ward

ANCI ENT EGYPT Ian Shaw

ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY Julia Annas

ANCIENT WARFARE Harry Sidebottom

ANGLICANISM MarkChapman

THE ANGLO-SAXON AGE John Blair

ANIMAL RIGHTS David DeGrazia

ANTISEMITISM Steven Beller

THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS Paul Foster

ARCHAEOLOGY Paul Bahn

ARCHITECTURE Andrew Ba Ila ntyne

ARISTOTLE Jonathan Barnes

ART H I STORY Dana Arnold

ARTTHEORY Cynthia Freeland

ATH E I SM Julian Baggini

AUGUSTINE Henry Chadwick

AUTISM Uta Frith

BARTH ES Jonathan Culler

BESTSELLERS John Sutherland

THE BIBLE John Riches

BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY EricH.Cline

BIOGRAPHY HermioneLee

THE BOOK OF MORMON Terryl Givens

THE BRAIN Michael O'Shea

BRITISH POLITICS Anthony Wright

BUDDHA Michael Carrithers

BUDDHISM Damienl

BUDDHIST ETHICS Damienl

CAPITALISM James Fulcher

CATHOLICISM GeraldO'Collins

THE CELTS Barry Cunliffe

CHAOS Leonard Smith

CHOICE THEORY Michael Allingham

CHRISTIAN ART Beth Williamson

CHRISTIANITY LindaWoodhead

CITIZENSHIP Richard Bellamy

CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY Helen Morales

CLASSICS Mary Beard and John Henderson

CLAUSEWITZ Michael Howard

THE COLD WAR Robert McMahon

COMMUNISM Leslie Holmes

CONSCIOUSNESS Susan Blackmore

CONTEMPORARY ART Julian Stallabrass

CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY Simon Critchley

COSMOLOGY Peter Coles

THE CRUSADES ChristopherTyerman

CRYPTOGRAPHY Fred Piper and Sean Murphy

DADA AND SURREALISM David Hopkins

DARWIN Jonathan Howard

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS TimothyLim

DEMOCRACY Bernard Crick

DESCARTES Tom Sorell

DESERTS Nick Middleton

DESIGN John Heskett

DINOSAURS David Norman

DOCUMENTARY FILM Patricia Aufderheide

DREAMING ].Allan Hobson

DRUGS Leslielversen

THE EARTH Martin Redfern

ECONOMICS Partha Dasgupta

EGYPTIAN MYTH Geraldine Pinch

EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN Paul Langford

THE ELEMENTS Philip Ball

EMOTION Dylan Evans

EMPIRE Stephen Howe

ENGELS Terrell Carver

EPIDEMIOLOGY RoldolfoSaracci

ETH ICS Simon Blackburn

THE EUROPEAN UNION John Pinder and Simon Usherwood

EVOLUTION Brian and Deborah Charlesworth

EXISTENTIALISM Thomas Flynn

FASCISM I

FASHION Rebecca Arnold

FEMINISM Margaret Walters

THE FIRST WORLD WAR Michael Howard

FORENSIC SCIENCE Jim Fraser

FOSSILS Keith Thomson

FOUCAULT Gary Gutting

FREE SPEECH NigelWarburton

FREE WILL Thomas Pink

FRENCH LITERATURE John D. Lyons

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION William Doyle

FREUD AnthonyStorr

FUNDAMENTALISM MaliseRuthven

GALAXIES John Gribbin

GALI LEO Stillman Drake

GAME THEORY Ken Binmore

GANDHI Bhikhu Parekh

GEOGRAPHY John Matthews and David Herbert

GEOPOLITICS I

GERMAN LITERATURE Nicholas Boyle

GLOBAL CATASTROPHES BillMcGuire

GLOBAL WARMING MarkMaslin

GLOBALIZATION Manfred Steger

THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND THE NEW DEAL Eric Rauchway

HABERMAS James Gordon Finlayson

HEGEL Peter Singer

HEIDEGGER Michael Inwood

HIEROGLYPHS Penelope Wilson

HINDUISM Kim Knott

HISTORY John H. Arnold

THE HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY Michael Hoskin

THE HISTORY OF LIFE Michael Benton

THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE William Bynum

THE HISTORY OF TI ME Leofranc Holford-Strevens

HIV/AIDS Alan Whiteside

HOBBES RichardTuck

HUMAN EVOLUTION Bernard Wood

HUMAN RIGHTS AndrewClapham

HUMS A.J.Ayer

IDEOLOGY Michael Freeden

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY Sue Hamilton

INFORMATION LucianoFloridi

INNOVATION Mark Dodgson and David Gann

INTELLIGENCE lanJ.Deary

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION I

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Paul Wilkinson

ISLAM MaliseRuthven

ISLAMIC HISTORY Adam Silverstein

JOURNALISM Ian Hargreaves

JUDAISM NormanSolomon

JUNG AnthonyStevens

KABBALAH Joseph Dan

KAFI

KANT RogerScruton

KIERKEGAARD Patrick Gardiner

THE KORAN Michael Cook

LAW Raymond Wacks

THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS Peter Atkins

LINCOLN Allen C. Guelzo

LINGUISTICS Peter Matthews

LITERARY TH EORY Jonathan Culler

LOCKE John Dunn

LOGIC Graham Priest

MACH IAVELLI Quentin Skinner

THE MARQUIS DE SADE John Phillips

MARX Peter Singer

MATHEMATICS TimothyGowers

THE MEANING OF LIFE Terry Eagleton

MEDICAL ETHICS Tony Hope

MEDIEVAL BRITAIN John Gillingham and Ralph A. Griffiths

MEMORY Jonathan K. Foster

MODERN ART David Cottington

MODERN CHINA Rana Mitter

MODERN IRELAND SeniaPa"seta

MODERN JAPAN Christopher Goto-jones

MOLECULES Philip Ball

MORMONISM Richard Lyman Bushman

MUSIC Nicholas Cook

MYTH Robert A. Segal

NATIONALISM Steven Grosby

NELSON MANDELA EllekeBoehmer

NEOLIBERALISM Manfred Steger and Ravi Roy

THE NEW TESTAMENT Luke TimothyJohnson

THE NEW TESTAMENT AS LITERATURE Kyle Keefer

NEWTON RobertIliffe

N I ETZSCH E Michael Tanner

NINETEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN Christopher Harvie and H. C. G. Matthew

THE NORMAN CONQUEST George Garnett

NORTHERN IRELAND Marc Mulholland

NOTHING Franl

NUCLEAR WEAPONS Joseph M. Siracusa

THE OLD TESTAMENT Michael D. Coogan

PARTICLE PHYSICS Franl

PAUL E.P. Sanders

PHILOSOPHY Edward Craig

PHILOSOPHY OF LAW Raymond Wacks

PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE SamirOl

PHOTOGRAPHY Steve Edwards

PLATO JuliaAnnas

POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY David Miller

POLITICS Kenneth Minogue

POSTCOLONIALISM RobertYoung

POSTMODERNISM Christopher Butler

POSTSTRUCTURALISM Catherine Belsey

PREHISTORY ChrisGosden

PRESOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY Catherine Osborne

PRIVACY Raymond Wacks

PROGRESSIVISM Walter Nugent

PSYCHIATRY Tom Burns

PSYCHOLOGY Gillian Butler and Freda McManus

PURITANISM FrancisJ.Bremer

THE QUAKERS Pink Dandelion

QUANTUM THEORY John Polkinghorne

RACISM Ali Rattansi

THE REAGAN REVOLUTION GilTroy

THE REFORMATION PeterMarshall

RELATIVITY Russell Stannard

RELIGION IN AMERICA TimothyBeal

THE RENAISSANCE JerryBrotton

RENAISSANCE ART Geraldine A. Johnson

ROMAN BRITAIN PeterSalway

THE ROMAN EMPIRE Christopher Kelly

ROUSSEAU RobertWokler

RUSSELL A. C. Grayling

RUSSIAN LITERATURE Catrional

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION S. A. Smith

SCHIZOPHRENIA Chris Frith and Eve Johnstone

SCHOPENHAUER Christopher Janaway

SCIENCE AND RELIGION Thomas Dixon

SCOTLAND Rab Houston

SEXUALITY VeroniqueMottier

SHAKESPEARE GermaineGreer

SIKHISM Eleanor Nesbitt