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10 French Classics: Books to Read

If I had to choose one favorite pastime, it would have to be reading. I鈥檝e loved to read ever since I was a young child, and I have so many great memories of curling up with a book, and getting swept away by the stories. I love to read so much that I got my Masters degree in Literature!

The French are known all over the world for many things: the food, the wine, their style, and of course, their literature. There are so many French classics to choose from, that it was actually very difficult for me to narrow down my list to just 10.

But, I think I鈥檝e come up with a great assortment of books that you should add to your “to be read” lists. Get ready to take notes鈥�here are my favorite 10 French classics that you need to read!

1. The Tales of Mother Goose by Charles Perrault

Cover of The Tales of Mother Goose by Charles Perrault; translated and edited by Charles Welsh, 1901 – WikiCommons

I鈥檒l be honest and admit that I had no ideas that The Tales of Mother Goose was originally in French! It鈥檚 one of those books of fairy tales that I think you all have read, and if not鈥�you鈥檝e probably heard a story or two from the collection anyways!

The book was originally published in 1696, so if this isn鈥檛 a classic I鈥檓 not sure what is. Stories inside include Sleeping Beauty, Puss in Boots, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood.

The author, Charles Perrault, is known as one of the very first to write down folk tales that had been passed down over the years, and turn them into a new genre called “fairy tales.” In French, the book is called Histoires ou contes du temps pass茅, avec des moralit茅s (Stories or tales from the past, with moralities)听辞谤听Contes de ma m猫re l鈥橭ye (Tales of my mother the Goose).

My favorite quote: “To sleep a century of peaceful dreams, And then, to better dreams, awake again! Such wait is joy, however long it seems. A long delay brings even greater bliss; The greatest bliss must suffer long delays.” – Sleeping Beauty, The Tales of Mother Goose

2. The Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire

The first edition of The Flowers of Evil with Baudelaire’s notes – WikiCommons

Charles Baudelaire is a household name across France, and in many places all over the world. He is known for translating Edgar Allen Poe鈥檚 writings into French, and for being fairly morbid and dark in his own right.

The Flowers of Evil (Les Fleurs du mal) is a book of poems that focus on themes such as sex, death and morality. Baudelaire lived and worked in Paris in the middle to late 19th century, and at the time, these sort of themes were taboo. The French government went so far as to label the book “obscene.”

When the book was first published, most of society rejected Baudelaire and his poetry. That being said, other writers and artists immediately loved his work, and he gained a small following. Today, it is studied in schools across France and in other countries!

My favorite quote: “My heart is lost; the beasts have eaten it.”

3. In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust

First galley proof of 脌听la recherche du temps perdu: Du c么t茅 de chez Swann with handwritten revision notes by Marcel Proust which was auctioned by Christie’s – WikiCommons

In one of the most epic novels in history, In Search of Lost Time (脌 la recherche du temps perdu), Marcel Proust shares stories of his childhood and adolescence while growing up in the aristocratic world of Paris. This novel stretches out over 7 volumes, and is the longest novel ever published. The longest sentence ever published is also included, at 847 words!

This French classic was an instant hit as soon as it was published, however, when Proust sought a publishing company to release it, he was turned down multiple times. Eventually he decided to publish the book himself.

This novel is so widely read, that a French expression came out of it. 鈥�La madeleine de Proust鈥� (Proust鈥檚 madeleine) references a section in the novel鈥檚 first volume, Swann鈥檚 Way, in which Proust reminisces about the times in his childhood that his mother would serve him madeleines (a small French cake) and tea. Every time he eats a madeleine, he is transported back to these moments. Do you have a “madeleine” of your own?

My favorite quote: “If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less, but to dream more, to dream all the time.”

4. Indiana by George Sand

The cover of Indiana by George Sand – WikiCommons

George Sand is actually the pen name for a woman named Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin. Sand was born in 1804, and at the time women just didn鈥檛 become respected writers. There were of course some women who had their work published, but it wasn鈥檛 taken seriously. That鈥檚 why Sand decided to go by a man鈥檚 name.

Indiana is widely considered her masterpiece. It was the first novel she ever published under the name George Sand, and it tells the story of a woman who is unhappily married. Life imitates art, or should I say, art imitates life, as Sand herself was stuck in an unhappy marriage herself.

The novel isn鈥檛 technically autobiographical, but it鈥檚 clear that Sand drew inspiration from her own life.

My favorite quote: “I was born to love – but none of you wanted to believe it, and that misunderstanding was crucial in forming my character. It’s true that nature was strangely inconsistent in giving me a warm heart, but also a face that was like a stone mask and a tongue that was heavy and slow. She refused me what she bestowed freely on even the most loutish of my fellow men. . . . People judged my inner character by my outer covering, and like a sterile fruit, I withered under the rough husk I couldn’t slough off.”

5. Les Mis茅rables by Victor Hugo

Young Cosette sweeping: 1886 engraving for Victor Hugo’s Les Mis茅rables by 脡mile Bayard – WikiCommons

If you haven鈥檛 recognized any of the author鈥檚 that I鈥檝e referenced so far, I鈥檓 almost positive that you鈥檝e heard of Victor Hugo! In addition to writing Les Mis茅rables, Hugo also penned the now turned Disney classic, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. Do the names Esmeralda and Quasimodo ring any bells?!

Les Mis茅rables was first published in 1862, and Hugo spends most of the novel talking about social injustices in France, specifically in Paris, at the time. Hugo was passionate about raising awareness of the working class conditions in Paris, as at the time most poor people in the city were barely surviving in the crowded slums.

Hugo鈥檚 work was so powerful, and so widely read, that the issues he brings up in the novel (over crowded housing, poor working conditions and high crime rates in the slums) were discussed at the National Assembly the year Les Mis茅rables was published.

My favorite quote: “Not being heard is no reason for silence.”

6. The Stranger by Albert Camus

L鈥橢虂tranger (The Stranger) by Albert Camus – WikiCommons

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The Stranger (sometimes called The Outside, 尝鈥櫭塼谤补苍驳别谤 in French), is arguably Albert Camus鈥� most well-known novels. It tells the story of the main character Meursault, who is听 a French man living in Algeria. Camus clearly drew inspiration from his own life, as he was听 French, but grew up in Algeria.

Oddly enough, the book almost didn鈥檛 get published. Camus finished the oeuvre in 1941, during World War II. In addition to food shortages, France was also experiencing a shortage of something very necessary for publishing a book: paper.

In the end, Camus鈥� publisher was able to find enough paper to print 4,000 copies of The Stranger. Today, over 10 million copies of Camus鈥� masterpiece have been sold!

My favorite quote: “I may not have been sure about what really did interest me, but I was absolutely sure about what didn鈥檛.”

7. The Lover by Marguerite Duras

Book cover for L’Amant (1984) by Marguerite Duras – WikiCommons

Marguerite Duras is another French writer that grew up in what used to be a French colony: Vietnam (at the time, French Indochina). When Duras was 17 years old, she decided to move to France in order to go to university. She earned her degree from the Sorbonne in Paris.

The Lover (尝鈥橝尘补苍迟) was published in 1984, and is one of Duras鈥� most successful novels. It one the Prix Goncourt in 1984 as well, which is a prestigious honor given to French literature.听

It tells the story of a French woman who falls in love with a much younger Chinese man. If you know anything about Duras鈥� personal life, you will recognize that it is semi-autobiographical. Duras had several relationships with men that were much younger than her over the course of her life.

My favorite quote: “Suddenly, all at once, she knows, knows that he doesn’t understand her, that he never will, that he lacks the power to understand such perverseness. And that he can never move fast enough to catch her.”

8. The Beast Within by 脡mile Zola

Lithography announcing the publication of La B锚te humaine in the newspaper La Vie populaire, Champenois, 1889 – WikiCommons

Much like the other authors on my list, 脡mile Zola is a household name in France. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901 and 1902, and he penned the now famous 闯鈥檃肠肠耻蝉别鈥�!, an open letter to the French president denouncing the fact that he had wrongly accused a Jewish man named Alfred Dreyfus for collaborating with the Germans in 1894.

In addition to his involvement in this famous case, he also penned a 20 volume series that follows the lives of two French families in the 19th century. The series is called Les Rougon-Macquart, and the 17th volume is called The Beast Within (La B锚te humaine).

The volume is centered around the main character, a man named Lantier. Lantier has long struggled with mental illness, and has even wanted to murder different women on several different occasions. The story is a commentary on an evil that can exist within the most unlikely of people.听

My favorite quote: “Don’t go looking at me like that because you’ll wear your eyes out.”

9. Le P猫re Goriot by Honor茅 de Balzac

Title page engraving from an 1897 edition of Le P猫re Goriot, by an unknown artist – WikiCommons

Honor茅 de Balzac was a French writer and playwright who is known for his volume of novels called La Com茅die Humaine. Inside, he examines life in France post-Napoleon Bonaparte. Balzac is generally considered as one of the founders of realism in French literature.

Le P猫re Goriot is one of the novels featured in La Com茅die Humaine. It is centered around three main characters: Goriot, an elderly man, Vautrin, a criminal, and Eug猫ne de Rastignac, a law student. All three characters appear in other novels in the series.

Many critics and scholars consider Le P猫re Goriot to be one of Balzac鈥檚 best works. The main theme of the book is the advancement of the three characters within French society during the Bourbon Restoration, which is the period in French history after the fall of Napoleon in 1814.

My favorite quote: “I’m a great poet. I don’t put my poems on paper: they consist of actions and feelings.”

10. Candide by Voltaire

An excerpt from Candide by Voltaire – WikiCommons

Voltaire is one of the most important French writers in history. “Voltaire” is actually the pen name for Fran莽ois-Marie Arouet, and interestingly enough, no one really knows where the pen name came from.

Voltaire is also known for his involvement in the Enlightenment movement in Paris, his obsession with coffee (he reportedly drank 40 cups a day), and his love of animals (he was a vegetarian before it became a “thing”).

He is also known for his novella Candide. In English, it is sometimes translated as Candide: Optimism. The novella tells the story of the main character, Candide, a man who is living what seems to be the perfect life. He removes himself from his idyllic situation in order to experience “real life,” and is shocked to learn of the suffering and pain other people can feel. The novella offers an interesting perspective of the human condition.

My favorite quote: “Let us cultivate our garden.”

Conclusion

I hope you鈥檝e got some new books to add to your reading lists, or maybe you鈥檝e already read all of the books on my list! Lucky you, if that鈥檚 the case. You鈥檝e officially read all of my favorite French classics!

Get comfortable, and get to work. You should have enough titles to satisfy you for at least a few months.

If you are in Paris and are interested in learning more about famous French authors, artists and personalities, I encourage you to join one of our walking tours! Click here to learn more and make your booking. Until then鈥�happy reading!