Best of
France

1990

Trial by Battle: The Hundred Years War, Volume 1


Jonathan Sumption - 1990
    The bankruptcy of the French state and a bitter civil war within the royal family were followed by the defeat and capture of the King of France by the Black Prince at Poitiers. A peasant revolt and a violent revolution in Paris completed the tragedy. In a humiliating treaty of partition France ceded more than a third of its territory to Edward III of England. Not for sixty years would the English again come so close to total victory. France's great cities, provincial towns and rural communities resisted where its leaders failed. They withstood the sustained savagery of the soldiers and the free companies of brigands to undo most of Edward III's work in the following generation. England's triumphs proved to be brittle and short-lived.

Sara Midda's South of France: A Sketchbook


Sara Midda - 1990
    Delicate watercolors shine like jewels set into each page of this exquisite book. In tones of sea and morning sky, stucco and brick, olive leaf and apricot, rose and geranium, sara Midda captures the land, the people, the shimmering air—the whole feeling of Provence and the Côte d'azur, and the spell they cast over even those who haven't visited. Interspersed throughout are photographic collages and charming observations. The whole book is printed on uncoated stock to convey the feeling of an artist's sketchbook.

Some Thing Black


Jacques Roubaud - 1990
    The grief-stricken author responded with one brief poem ("Nothing"), then fell silent for thirty months. In subsequent years, Roubaud--poet, novelist, mathematician--composed a series of prose poems, a collection that is a profound mediation on the experience of death, the devastation it brings to the lover who goes on living, and the love that remains. Despite the universality of this experience, no other writer has so devoted himself to exploring and recording the many-edged forms of grief, mourning, bewilderment, emptiness, and loneliness that attend death. No other writer has provided a kind of solace while facing with honesty and hardness the intricate ways in which the living are affected by such a loss. Some Thing Black is an ongoing monologue from Roubaud to his wife, as death assaults the mind's failure to comprehend absence. Roubaud both refuses to and cannot surrender his wife to the past ("I always wake up in your voice, your hand, your smell"). The death, having occurred in an instant of time, goes on in him ("But inside me your death proceeds slowly, incomprehensibly"). While acknowledging "death calls for a poetry of meditation," Roubaud is enraged at the limitations of language and words to affect the biological reality. Rather, all that language can do is clarify the exactness of his grief and to recall precisely the image of her life and death. But such recollection--the sight of her dead body, her photographs, her things, the rooms they lived in--becomes a "memory infinitely torturous." And his most anguished recollection is of their making love ("These memories are the darkest of all"), and a sense of guilt for somehow not having prevented her death ("I did not save you from that difficult night"). This is a brave and honest book that does not disguise that pain of loss. Its nobility, grace, and humanity rest in its refusal to falsify death's harsh presence ("This dirty rotten life to be mixed up with death") and in its acceptance of the mind's limitations ("I do not understand"). This moving, compassionate, uncompromising book is one of the most significant works of our time. Included in this edition is a portfolio of photographs made by Roubaud's wife in 1980 entitled "If Some Thing Black."

Letters from Provence


Vincent van Gogh - 1990
    It reproduces extensive extracts from his correspondence and is illustrated with his paintings, drawings and facsimile letters. Van Gogh's letters are a testimony to his struggle to survive and work. Here, the combination of letters and illustrations, concentrating on the period when he painted his greatest works, aims to provide an insight into his daily life in Arles and St-Remy, his spiritual torment and the process of artistic creation itself. The author is an "Observer" journalist specializing in the arts, and has published four previous books, including "Young Vincent: The Story of Van Gogh's Years in England".

Claude Monet: 1840-1926 (Big Art Series)


Karin Sagner-Düchting - 1990
    Having finally earned the money and gained the respect he sought in his early days as a struggling painter, Monet designed and built the home and gardens in the village on the Seine that would be the site of the famous "Grain Stacks" and "Water Lilies" paintings that would secure his reputation. A good, affordable introductory study of the pioneer of modern art.

Tomorrow Will Be Better: A True Story of Love and One Family's Triumph over the Horrors of World War II


Zdena Kapral - 1990
    Book by Kapral, Zdena

First Days of the Year


Hélène Cixous - 1990
    Like all of Cixous's profoundly original works, it seductively leads the reader into a new way of thinking by disrupting fixed ideas of psychic identity, subjectivity, and language.

Masters and Servants


Pierre Michon - 1990
    A major contemporary French writer debuts in English with five stories relating to five great painters."

Memories of Gascony


Pierre Koffmann - 1990
    Memories of Gascony is both a celebration of a peasant way of lifer that is fast disappearing and a classic recipe book to be read and used time and again by all keen cooks.”

The Culture of Clothing: Dress and Fashion in the Ancien Régime


Daniel Roche - 1990
    In it Roche discusses general approaches to the history of dress, locates the subject within current French historiography and uses a large sample of inventories to explore the differences between the various social classes in the amount they spent on clothes and the kind of clothes they wore.

Berthe Morisot


Anne Higonnet - 1990
    She reached a pinnacle of artistic achievement despite the restraints society placed on her sex, adroitly combining her artistic ambitions with a rewarding family life. Anne Higonnet brings fully to life an accomplished artist and her world.

Cezanne Biography


John Rewald - 1990
    Letters, documents and photographs are included. Rewald has also compiled a catalogue raisonne of Cezanne's watercolours."

Napoleon and Josephine: A Love Story


Theo Aronson - 1990
    Besotted by Josephine during the early years of their marriage, Napoleon, in the face of her indifference and infidelity, gradually became less obsessed with her and eventually divorced her in 1809 to remarry and produce an heir. Theo Aronson has also written "The King in Love: Edward VII's Mistresses".

In the Shadow's Light


Yves Bonnefoy - 1990
    Included here is an extensive new interview with the poet in English translation."Included here is a very helpful and touchingly personal interview with the poet. . . . For readers with no prior knowledge of Bonnefoy's work, this volume would be an excellent place to start."—Stephen Romer, Times Literary Supplement

De Gaulle 1: The Rebel, 1890-1944


Jean Lacouture - 1990
    Photographs.

At Home In France: Eating and Entertaining with the French


Christopher Petkanas - 1990
    70 recipes here include stuffed duck; fine cheese, orange chocolate cake, and succulent seafood.

To Whom it May Concern


Raymond Federman - 1990
    In the letters, a writer sets forth his plans for a book about two children who were separated from their families during a war. He plans to invent a narration that will fully reveal their experiences during that war, experiences that are at the base of their reality, and the memory of which will also retrieve them from their present, supernumerary lives.The two children, it develops, escaped the roundups of Jews in a city much like Paris during World War II. The book contains the story of their ambiguous survival, which may or may not be that of the author. Now, fifty years later, the two have re-established contact and plan a reunion in Israel.In the last scene of the book two figures, their features obscured by the long shadows of evening, lean toward one another as they speak from the confidence of their hearts. Also there, listening, is the writer of the letters that form the book. The novel ends mysteriously, and so continues to vibrate in our imagination. To Whom it May Concern will join that short list of books we treasure most deeply, those few statements that remind us of who we are, and of what we are capable.

Fragile Glory: A Portrait of France and the French


Richard Bernstein - 1990
    In looking for clues to French character, the author explores everything from wine culture to cultural politics, movies, food and the higher eroticism."-- New York Times An enormously entertaining account of contemporary France from the former Paris bureau chief of The New York Times. Bernstein combines personal memoir, informed observation, and news-hound curiosity to offer a stirring and unforgettable panaorama of France--at times exalted, troubling, and occasionally absurd.

The Passion of Therese of Lisieux


Guy Gaucher - 1990
    From the bishop of Lisieux, this is a warm and wise look at the life of Therese of Lisieux, a modern-day saint.

The Most Beautiful Villages of France


Dominique Reperant - 1990
    Complementing the selection of villages is a list of hotels and restaurants.

Mirror of Charity


Aelred of Rievaulx - 1990
    His own experience of human weakness in a worldly life at the court of King David of Scotland made him sensitive to the doctrine of charity which he found among cistercian monks.The Mirror of Charity gives us a solid theology of the cistercian life. Aelred's deep knowledge of Scripture, his joy in his brethren, and his love of Christ shine from every page. Because the divine nature is love, as the Bible tells us, directing our love to God-love conforms us to the image of God that has been lost through sin. All love, to Aelred, is a participation in God-love that leads us to union.The Mirror of Charity, written at the beginning of his monastic life, and Spiritual Friendship, written near its end, form a set. Together they demonstrate both the consistency of his teaching and his unswerving love of God in Christ.

Time Out Paris


Time Out Guides - 1990
    The city’s modern touches — mushrooming public wi-fi coverage, excellent public transport system, major architectural projects in the pipeline — are balanced by his glorious historical aspects. The flagstones the guillotine once stood on are still in place, the palace of kings that houses the world’s largest museum, the Louvre, remains a marvel to behold. Time Out Paris returns to the city’s roots and monitors its new shoots — the radical plan to cut traffic in the center by 75 percent, the new “boat Métro” service along the Seine, and new developments in every sphere of its world-leading fashion, arts, and culinary scenes. This updated, meticulously checked and rechecked edition contains special features on romantic activities for couples; a new Trips Out of Town section; and an Objects of Desire” section on timeless Paris gifts. The book’s improved design, full-color photographs, sidebars, and color-coded bullets make it both easy and fun to use.

The Life and Death of My Lord Gilles de Rais


Robert Nye - 1990
    The list of his crimes include witchcraft, heresy, sacrilege, sorcery, the evocations of demons and the practice of unnatural crime against children, ending with their murder for his delight.

The Architectural Theory of Viollet-Le-Duc: Readings and Commentary


Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc - 1990
    They inspired a generation of American architects, including Frank Furness, John Wellborn Root, Louis Sullivan, and Frank Lloyd Wright, In 1894, the critic Montgomery Schuyler observed that Viollet-le-Duc's books "have had the strongest influence on this generation of readers." But for the past century, all but one of his works have been out of print in English.These readings carefully selected from the entire range of Viollet-le-Duc's work make available the historical insights and practical principles of one of the most imaginative, and inspiring architectural theorists of the modern era. M.F. Hearn has culled from Viollet-le-Duc's books on architecture the passages in which his major ideas about the theory of architecture are most cogently expressed.Hearn has arranged and interplated the readings in a sequence of topics covering Viollet-le-Duc's views on the architecture of the past, his convictions about the education of architects, his philosophy of method, principles of design, and his guidelines for restoration. The selections are introduced by a biographical essay connected by interpretive commentaries, and followed by a biographical note.M.F. Hearn is Professor of Fine Arts and Director of Architectural Studies at the University of Pittsburgh.

Cézanne: A Memoir with Conversations


Joachim Gasquet - 1990
    But it has hitherto been available only in the French edition that was published originally in 1921. Now the English-reading audience is introduced for the first time to an invaluable and often-cited source of information on Cezanne's aspirations and ideas.

In Transition: A Paris Anthology: Writing And Art From Transition Magazine 1927-30


Noël Riley Fitch - 1990
    For its time, ‘Transition’ was a mouthpiece of high modernism unmatched by any other journal in Europe; featured here are most of the great avant-garde writers of that era, such as Gide, Joyce, Jung, Kafka, Miro, Rilke, Picasso and Gertrude Stein.

The Rise of the Paris Red Belt


Tyler Stovall - 1990
    Focusing on the northeastern suburb of Bobigny, Stovall explores the nature of working-class life and politicization as he skillfully documents how this unique region and political culture came into being. The Rise of the Paris Red Belt reveals that the very process of urban development in metropolitan Paris and the suburbs provided the most important opportunities for the local establishment of Communist influence.The rapid increase in Paris' suburban population during the early twentieth century outstripped the development of the local urban infrastructure. Consequently, many of these suburbs, often represented to their new residents as charming country villages, soon degenerated into suburban slums. Stovall argues that Communists forged a powerful political block by mobilizing the disillusionment and by improving some of the worst aspects of suburban life.As a social history of twentieth-century France, The Rise of the Paris Red Belt calls into question traditional assumptions about the history of both French Communism and the French working-class. It suggests that those interested in working-class politics, especially in the twentieth century, should consider the significance of residential and consumer issues as well as those relating to the workplace. It also suggests that urban history and urban development should not be considered autonomous phenomena, but rather expressions of class relations. The Rise of the Paris Red Belt brings to life a world whose citizens, though often overlooked, are nonetheless the history of modern France.

French Garden Style


Georges Leveque - 1990
    They range in size from enormous estates to tiny urban oases, showing the diversity of gardening styles that exists within France. Some subtly reflect their surroundings, others are geometric in plan; some show a strong English influence or are guided by color harmonies, while others simply exude their owners' love of cultivating plants.

Lavoisier--The Crucial Year: The Background and Origin of His First Experiments on Combustion in 1772


Henry Guerlac - 1990
    Henry Guerlac finds that this breakthrough that began the Chemical Revolution did not come "ex nihilo," as many historians claim. Rather, it marked the culmination of research by British and French chemists, radically refashioned by Lavoisier and his disciples. Henry Guerlac portrays Lavoisier integrating Continental and British chemical traditions. Like New ton in physics and Darwin in biology, Lavoisier was a revolutionary. This work presents his in a vigorous and innovative light.

Fashion Under the Occupation


Dominique Veillon - 1990
    At home and abroad, couturiers' wealthy clients eagerly awaited the latest collections, and design houses throughout the world looked to Paris for inspiration. Unparalleled for glamour and elegance, all things French were noted and emulated - and especially French fashion.One morning in September 1939, into this idyllic world of haute couture and Café society came the shattering experience of war, followed by the German Occupation. French women, determined not to give way to the inevitable austerities, sought innovation: hats made from blotting paper or newspapers - the latter signalling political allegiances - and blouses made out of parachute silk, often obtained through dubious means. Not only did life go on, but creativity flourished - culottes, which enabled stylish bicycle journeys, became the vogue, and couturiers capitalized on deprivation with wit - dubbing designs 'Coal' and 'Black Coffee', or naming an entire collection after Métro stops.Fashion under the Occupation provides the only in-depth history of these blackest years in French history, long overlooked by fashion history because of the impoverished industry and deprivations that affected design. Widely acknowledged as the authoritative work on fashion during this period, it is available in English for the first time and will be essential reading for anyone interested in fashion, French cultural history, and particularly the German Occupation of France.

Henry VIII and the Invasion of France


Charles Greig Cruickshank - 1990
    

Utopian Pessimist: The Life and Thought of Simone Weil


David McLellan - 1990
    Born in 1909, she was a brilliant philosophy student in the Paris of the 1920s and colleague of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. She fought on the anarchist side in the Spanish Civil War and died, at the age of only thirty-four, while serving with de Gaulle and the Free French in London. This life of intense activity was united with a profoundly religious outlook on life. Many consider her the best spiritual writer of our century and a true saint for modern times. Simone Weil published almost nothing during her lifetime. The publication of her complete works is only now beginning in France. They reveal a mind of amazing lucidity and depth. This biography draws on hitherto unpublished material to explain her thought in the context of her life. Its comprehensive coverage at last makes available to the public the most intriguing personality of our age.

The Reign of Louis XIV


Paul Sonnino - 1990
    This collection contains fifteen articles which, in addition to the standard studies of military and administrative history, examine

Moliere's Theatrical Bounty: A New View of the Plays


Albert Bermel - 1990
    His emphasis is theatrical rather than literary, philosophical, or biographical, although he necessarily brings these considerations to bear when discussing certain plays.Bermel introduces a new methodology, one featuring the type of scrutiny directors, actors, and designers apply to any play before and during rehearsal. Thus he studies the dramatic implications of each scene or part of a scene by noting which characters are present, which ones are absent, and why. He analyzes each role, explores interactions among characters, traces the significance of structure, considers how much information is provided and who provides it, and examines such notable background factors as setting, season, and scenic arrangement. Using this methodology, Bermel provides new interpretations of Molière’s most celebrated plays and demonstrates that many of the less famous plays also deserve attention.Previous Molière critics have been conservative, especially in that they favor traditional stagings; Bermel, however, encourages new explorations of the plays. His main intention is to keep Molière alive and vital for present and future readers and audiences. Nowhere is this more apparent than in his attention to, and sympathy for, female characters and their points of view.