French Studies : Books

Transnational France: The Modern History of a Universal Nation

Now in its second edition, Tyler Stovall's Transnational France takes a transnational approach to the history of modern France that draws the reader into a key aspect of France's political culture: universalism. Beginning with the French Revolution and its aftermath, Stovall traces French history right up into the present day and examines France's relations with three other areas of the world: Europe, the United States and France's colonial empire. The book opens a lens onto both French identity and the history of the world more broadly which allows the reader to engage with French history in a much wider context. This new edition features an additional chapter on France in the Twenty First Century that offers an analysis of current events and issues as seen through historical perspective. Issues addressed include anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and the gilets jaunes, as well as the impact of Brexit, the maturation of the National Front under Marine LePen, and the administration of Emmanuel Macron. Giving a global view of France's history, this is the perfect volume for students of Modern France and French history courses (Provided by Publisher).

French Musical Life: Local Dynamics in the Century to World War II

This book is a study of French musical centralization and its discontents during the period leading up to and beyond the “provincial awakening” of the Belle Époque. The book explains how different kinds of artistic decentralization and regionalism were hard won (or not) across a politically turbulent century from the 1830s to World War II. In doing so, it redraws the historical map of musical power relations in France. Based on work in more than seventy archives, chapters on conservatoires, concert life, stage music, folk music, and composition reveal how tensions of state and locality played out differently depending on the structures and funding mechanisms in place, the musical priorities of different town councils, and the presence or absence of galvanizing musicians. Progressively, the book shifts from musical contexts to musical content, exploring the pressure point of folk music and its translation into “local color” for officials who perpetually feared national division. Controlling composition, on the one hand, and the emotional intensity of folk-based musical experience, on the other, emerges as a matter of consistent official praxis. In terms of “French music” and its compositional styles, what results is a surprising new historiography of French neoclassicism, bound into and growing out of a study of diversity and its limits in daily musical life (Provided by Publisher).

This title was acquired through the Library's Order a Book service.

French Cinema : A Student's Guide

What are the Cahiers du cinema ? Which are the most popular French films ? How do you write an essay on a French film ? What is a high-angle shot in French ? When did more French spectators go to see American films than French films ? How do you talk about a short sequence of film ? You can find the answers to these and many more questions in this essential resource for students of French cinema (Provided by Publisher).

The Voice of Virtue: Moral Song and the Practice of French Stoicism, 1574-1652

The Voice of Virtue illuminates the musical practices at the heart of the Neostoic movement that spread across French lands during the Wars of Religion in the latter half of the sixteenth century. Guided by twin reparative traditions granting music and philosophy therapeutic power, composers and performers across the embattled Catholic and Protestant confessions turned to moral song as a means of repairing personal and collective virtue damaged by the ongoing conflict. Moral song collections enlarged interest in Stoicism by circulating attractive paraphrases of Stoic maxims set to music. Even more importantly, this skillfully composed repertoire of polyphonic song offered a multi-sensory moral practice that would have resonated powerfully for those well-versed in the Stoic ethical program. Bringing together a repertoire of little-known music prints, a lively visual culture, and a rich body of literary and philosophical sources, The Voice of Virtue not only illuminates the influence of Stoicism on music, but also reveals that Neostoicism as an intellectual or cultural movement cannot be fully understood without accounting for its vibrant musical practices.

(Provided by Publisher).

This title was acquired by the Library's Order a Book Service.

Staging and Stage Décor : Perspectives on European Theater 1500-1950

Staging and Stage Décor: Perspectives on European Theater 1500-1950 is a compendium of essays by an international array of theater specialists. The Introduction provides an overview of theater décor and architecture from ancient Greece through the Renaissance and beyond, while the articles that follow explore a variety of topics such as the development of lighting techniques in early modern Italy, the staging of convent theater in Portugal, performance spaces at Versailles, the reconstruction of the Globe theater, and Shrovetide plays in Germany. This volume also offers insight into little-studied subjects such as the early productions of Brecht and the spread of Russian theater to Japan. The focus on performance and performance space across centuries and continents makes this a truly unique read. (Provided by Publisher.)