A flippant expose of the country and people who will host this year’s Paris 2024 Olympics. This week Senior Correspondent Mike Osborne locks himself in the library to uncover France’s literary greats.
Prince Charming, the big bad wolf and a glass slipper. Almost everyone knows the stories of Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella.
Then there’s loads more French classics that have become universal – The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Les Miserables, The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Coming of Age, Gigi, and Around the World in 80 Days. They were all penned by famed French writers including Voltaire, Moliere, Victor Hugo, Jules Verne, Camus, Sartre and Simone de Beauvior.
But let’s start with the 17th century French civil servant who created iconic children’s tales.
Charles Perrault (1628-1703) worked as an administrator in the court of King Louis XIV. But when political infighting led to his early retirement aged 56, he devoted his time to writing.
He started with poetry and history but by 1695, aged 67, he’d dedicated himself to writing for his children. Two years later he published “Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals”: subtitled “The Tales of Mother Goose”.
Mother Goose included his most famous stories including Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty. His fairy tales, based on traditional stories, became very popular in France, especially in Royal circles.
Many of Perrault’s fairy tales influenced German versions published some 100 years later by the Brothers Grimm, and remain his only works still read today despite all the other poetry and essays he produced.
Two French literary giants from the 19th century, who remain widely read despite their deaths more than 150 years ago, are buried in the Pantheon in Paris where many French luminaries rest.
Poet, politician and novelist Victor Hugo (1802-1865) produced “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and “Les Miserables”, now better known as films and musicals. His life-long friend Alexandre Dumas (1902-1870) was responsible for “The Three Musketeers”, “Balsamo the Magician” and “The Count of Monte Cristo”.
The mixed race Dumas was not originally buried in the Pantheon but on the centenary of his death in 2002 his remains were moved there by President Jacques Chirac to correct a racist wrong.
“With you, we were D’Artagnan, Monte Cristo or Balsamo, riding along the roads of France, touring battlefields, visiting palaces and castles – with you, we dream,” Chirac said of Dumas.
Another author who broke barriers in the 19th century was Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin (1804-1876), who wrote under the pen name George Sand. While she wore men’s clothing in public, she was very vocal about women’s rights. Her most well known works include the novels “Indiana” about a young French noblewoman, and “A Winter in Majorca”, which describes her time spent with Polish composer Frederic Chopin on the Spanish island.
Other famous female French writers include Simone de Beauvior (1908-1986), who produced “The Second Sex” and “The Coming of Age” and was also an advocate for women’s rights; and Sidonie-Gabriella Colette (1873-1954), simply known as Collete, who was nominated for the 1948 Nobel Prize in literature and is best known for the novella “Gigi”, which became an Oscar-winning film and musical.
Two French authors who won the Nobel Prize for Literature are Albert Camus (1913-1960) in 1957 and John-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) in 1964. Camus is best known for his novella “The Stranger” while Sartre’s most popular work is probably “The Age of Reason”.
Other great French writers include Emile Zola (1840-1902) who was nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1901 and 1902; Voltaire (1694-1778), the pen name of Francois-Marie Arouet, whose most enduring work is the novel “Candide”; Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) who wrote “Madame Bovary”; Marcel Proust (1871-1922) who wrote the seven part fiction “In Search of Lost Time”; and the influential poet Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867).
Of the many great French characters of literature, probably the best known is Jules Verne (1828-1905), whose 19th century science fiction classics include “Journey to the Centre of the Earth” and “Around the World in 80 Days”.
His work has been adapted for theatre, film, TV, radio and even comic books. Verne ranks as the world’s second most translated author behind Agatha Christie and ahead of William Shakespeare.
France even has a rival to Shakespeare – Jean-Baptiste Poquelin who is best known by his stage name of Moliere (1622-1673). Considered the creator of French comedy, Moliere was born just a few years after Shakespeare’s death in 1616, and wrote numerous plays in addition to his acting roles.
The national theatre awards of France are named the Molieres and many words and phrases introduced by Moliere remain common in the French language, just as many of Shakespeare’s great lines are integral to English.
Best known for his comedies and tragicomedies, the French aristocratic satire “The Misanthrope” is probably Moliere’s most famous work, although it was not a huge hit when it was first staged in 1666.
Two of Moliere’s other well known plays, “Tartuffe” and “Dom Juan”, were both banned despite being originally performed for Louis XIV at the Palace of Versailles in 1664. Both were critical of the upper classes and the ruling Catholics but Moliere never attacked the monarchy because the King was one of his greatest fans and supporters.
NOTE – This is the latest in a weekly series of “Frivolous facts about France for Olympic bon vivants”. You can read other Frivolous Facts stories by clicking on these topics: Art, Architecture, Sportscars, Language, Wine, Explorers, French hatred of the British, French Heroes, French Bread, French Inventions, Olympic History.
Michael Osborne has been a journalist for more than four decades including 35 years with the national news agency Australian Associated Press, rising from junior reporter to Editor.
He was AAP Editor for 11 years and served four years as Head of Sport and Racing. He was also posted to London and Beijing as AAP’s Bureau Chief and Foreign Correspondent.
He has worked at six Olympics and five Commonwealth Games, covered tennis grand slams, golf majors, international cricket, rugby world cups and numerous sporting world championships. He also co-ordinated and managed AAP’s teams and coverage at three Olympic Games in Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
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