French Stories / Contes Francais (A Dual-Language Book)

That May morning, as I squirmed in my seat in labyrinthine Dwinelle Hall, I settled on this topic: "The Use of Irony in a Short Story." Somehow, I recalled the final story from _French Stories/Contes Francais_: "L'Hote," by Albert Camus (1913-1960). "L'Hote" (The Guest) is one of six stories from his _L'Exil et le Royaume_ (1957--the same year he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature). Editor Wallace Fowlie gives this brief synopsis: "The scene of the story is set on a high plateau of Algeria. An Arab has killed a man in a family quarrel, and he is brought to the schoolteacher who is to take him to prison in the next town. The story is constructed around a dramatic irony which forms the conclusion." Without giving anything away, allow me to tell you, if you do not already know, that "l'hote" has two meanings in French: "host" and "guest." French is that kind of language: nuance and double-entendre abound.

After one year of formal French instruction, _French Stories/Contes Francais: A Dual Language Book_ became my constant companion. I loved how I could read these ten short stories in French while I covered up the English translations on facing pages. If I stumbled over an unfamiliar word, I could peek, or I could look it up in the small vocabulary section at the end of the book. Since then, I have re-read this "French Reader" many times.

_Contes_ displays no overarching unity, for it is but a sampling of some of the best short stories from 200 years of French Literature. In chronological order, here is the listing of the stories and their authors: "Micromegas" (Micromegas) by Voltaire (1694-1778), "a philosophical tale written in 1752 . . . obviously imitating Swift's 'Gulliver's Travel's' "; "La Messe de l'Athee" (The Atheist's Mass) by Honore de Balzac (1799-1850), illustrates the passion of "one of the most prolific writers in French literature, and one who has created the largest number of characters."

Next is "La Legende de Saint Julien l'Hospitalier" (The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaler) by Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880). This story, one of a volume of three stories (Trois Contes), was written by Flaubert in 1877, twenty years after _Madame Bovary_. "La Legende" differs from this earlier masterpiece because "[i]t is far from being a realistic study of contemporary life . . . .[but rather] it is the attempt to reconstruct medieval customs and characters."

A "dark" favorite of mine, poet Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) follows with "Le Spleen de Paris (trois poemes en prose)" (The Spleen of Paris (Three Poems in Prose)), first published posthumously in 1869. These three works, "Le Vieux Saltimbanque" (The Old Clown), "Le Joujou du Pauvre" (The Poor Boy's Toy), "La Corde (A Edouard Manet)" (The Rope (To Edouard Manet)) introduced the new genre, or "literary form," of the prose-poem in France. The editor, Professor Wallace Fowlie of Duke University, stated that these prose-poems were "apologues or fables representing a moral truth."

Other stories are "Meneut" (Minuet) by Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893); "Mort de Judas" (Death of Judas) by Paul Claudel (1868-1955); "Le Retour de l'Enfant Prodigue" (The Return of the Prodigal Son) by Andre Gide (1869-1951); "Grand-Lebrun" (Grand-Lebrun) by Francois Mauriac (1885-1970); and "Le Passe-Muraille" (The Passer-Through-Walls) by Marcel Ayme (1902-1967). "L'Hote" ends the collection.

Fowlie's introductions to each story are succinct summations of each author's philosophy and purpose. He offers a few pages of endnotes and a "questionnaire en francais" for each text. _French Stories/Contes Francais_ is a book to be savored and studied. I recommend it to beginning students of the French language as well as to those who wish to refresh their memory of French literature.


Excellent stories in French with English on opposite page   July 25, 1998
119 out of 122 found this review helpful

First read this book in 1960 in college, cost 75 cents. Now relearning French and enjoying the stories, reading first the French and using the opposite page English to check my understanding and translate words and phases I don't know. This is an excellent way to enjoy interesting stories and enlarge one's French painlessly. Ordering a new copy as mine is disintegrating with age (as is the reviewer).


Great practice, but not necessarily for a novice   December 11, 2006
letitb (New Jersey)
26 out of 26 found this review helpful

This is just the type of book I was looking for to increase my French literacy. Previous to buying this book, I would buy a book such as "L'Etranger" in French and also in English and read them side by side--so this book of French stories does exactly that in one book. It's also a plus that the stories themselves are are excellent from a literary point of view, and would be worthwhile reading, even just in English.

The only drawback is, as a novice in the French language, it was very challenging for me to read in French without resorting very frequently to the English side of the page. It made me want to find a similar book, but slightly less advanced, so that I could graduate up to this book.

If you are fairly new to French, this is not for you. If you are fairly fluent, this will be a pleasure read. If you are somewhere in the middle like me, with a few years of schooling in French but no practical experience, take it on as a learning opportunity, but you may not be able to read more than a few pages at one sitting.


The very good and the pretty bad--still would buy again   March 27, 2007
Dee White (Charlottesville, VA USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

First the good. These stories are worth reading anyway, even if not trying to improve your French. Can't believe I never read Micromegas before! Can't believe it was written mid 1700s! So the selection of stories is an excellent one and the practice and vocabulary building comes quickly. For that reason, I'd unquestionably buy this again.

The bad. I know enough French to know that the translations are atrocious. Though I am not fluent in French, I believe I could have done a better, truer translation (with help of a French dictionary). Beautiful phrases are translated into mundane English cliches and some unknown French words are, on some occasions, "translated" into the identical (and equally unknown) word on the English side. Did the translater not have access to an English dictionary or did he not know what the French word really meant?

So -- definitely a useful buy for learning and practicing French and (particularly if you can read most of it in French) interesting stories as well. Just try not to refer to the English counterpart more than you must, such as for the periodic word translation.


Good book to brush up...   May 11, 2008
Conni A. McDonnell (East Coast, USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

I bought this book for my ailing and flailing French vocabulary. Although I speak fluently, my diminishing vocabulary is directly accredited to my non-use and non-practice of the language. One note - many phrases are translated literally, yet lack the tonality and subtle nuances which are found in true meaning. Otherwise, a very easy read and a useful book for those of us who lack opportunity to speak the language. Would certainly recommend this book for an intermediate level and up.