French literature

French literature, writings in medieval French dialects and standard modern French. Writings in Provençal and Breton are considered separately, as are works in French produced abroad (as at Canadian literature, French).

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Medieval Literature
• Renaissance Literature
• Classicism: The Seventeenth Century
• Rationalism: The Eighteenth Century
• Romanticism, Realism, and Other Movements: The Nineteenth Century
• The Twentieth Century and Since
• Bibliography

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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