French Tales (City Tales) (U)

From The Publisher: Fiction Is Much More Enlightening About A Country And Its People Than Are Statistics, And If We Want To Find Out And Understand What A Nation Is Really Like, We Must Read Its Literature. In French Tales, Helen Constantine Offers A Panoramic View Of French Society And Culture As Seen Through Its Short Fiction, Ranging Through All Twenty-two Regions Of France And Featuring The Work Of An Engaging Collection Of Writers. Here Are Stories As Varied As The Regions Of France Themselves-dramatic, Tragic, Comic, Poetic, Ghostly, Satirical. Readers Will Find Both Famous And Little-known Writers-among Them Guy De Maupassant, Emile Zola, Daniel Boulanger, Didier Daeninckx, And Colette-and Will Wander The Country From Provence And Alsace To Ile-de-france And Normandy. The Themes Are Timeless-marriage And The Dealings Between The Sexes; The Nature Of Friendship; The Misery And The Memory Of War-and The Stories Themselves Reflect The Rich Ethnic Diversity Of France. Thus, Christian Garcin's Story Set In Lille Has Flemish Associations; Prosper Merimee's Mateo Falcone, About An Honor Killing In Corsica, Is In Many Respects More Italian Than French; And Marcel Ayme's Story About Arbi, An Arab In Paris Living At The Bottom Of A Cul-de-sac, Illustrates Only Too Well The Plight Of Many North Africans Who Settled In The Larger Cities-paris And Marseille Especially. Following The Model Of The Highly Successful Paris Tales, Also Translated By Helen Constantine, Each Story Is Illustrated With A Striking Photograph And There Is A Map Indicating The Position Of The French Regions. There Is An Introduction And Notes To Accompany The Stories And A Selection Of Further Readings. Introduction -- Bretagne: You Should Have Changed At Dol / Annie Saumont -- Basse-normandie: Made For Two / Daniel Boulanger -- Haute-normandie: A Norman / Guy De Maupassant -- Nord-pas-de-calais: The Voiceless / Christian Garcin -- Picardie: The Garden Of Illusions / Pierre Mac Orlan -- Ile-de-france: Rue De L'evangile / Marcel Ayme -- Champagne Ardenne: Light Souls / Stephane Emond -- Lorraine: House In The Woods / Stephane Emond -- Alsace: The Phantom Of Rainbow Street / Didier Daeninckx -- Pays-de-la-loire: The Saviours Of The White Wine / Rene Bazin -- Centre: The Cattle Man / Daniel Boulanger -- Bourgogne: Where Are The Children? / Colette -- Franche-comte: The Vanishing / Louis Pergaud -- Poitou Charentes: Julie / Jacques Chardonne -- Limousin: Four Walls / Claude Michelet -- Auvergne: A Mother's Tale / Guy De Maupassant -- Rhone-alpes: The Bull From Jouvet / Paul Hervieu -- Aquitaine: We Can't Go On Like This / Anne-marie Garat -- Midi-pyrenees: The Flood / Emile Zola -- Languedoc-roussillon: The Beaucaire Coach / Alphonse Daudet -- Provence-alpes-cote D'azur: The Pope's Mule / Alphonse Daudet -- Corse: Mateo Falcone / Prosper Merimee -- Notes On The Stories -- Selected Further Reading -- Publisher's Acknowledgments -- Map. Stories Translated By Helen Constantine. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [348]-349). Translated From The French.