Includes footnotes with bibliographical references, bibliography (pages xxix-xxx), reading lists at chapter ends, chronological table (pages 170-171) , and index.

This book is designed to address a particular difficulty faced by English-speaking students: in order to fully understand and appreciate French authors, they need to be more familiar with French history, and the political, social, economic and cultural traditions of France. The extent to which our understanding of literature is thus sharpened and deepened by systematic attention to historical background depends on the nature of the works studied, so the passages selected cover a diverse selection of authors from the 19th century. The historical commentary is directly related to the explanation of passages, thus illustrating the literary usefulness of historical knowledge.

In English and French.

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