Autoportrait is a physical, psychological, sexual, political, and philosophical triumph. Beyond "sincerity," Levé works toward an objectivity so radical it could pass for crudeness, triviality, even banality: the author has stripped himself bare. With the force of a set of maxims or morals, Levé's prose seems at first to be an autobiography without sentiment, as though written by a machine—until, through the accumulation of detail, and the author's dry, quizzical tone, we find ourselves disarmed, enthralled, and enraptured by nothing less than the perfect fiction . . . made entirely of facts.

    Although almost six centuries old, the Battle of Agincourt still captivates the imaginations of men and women on both sides of the Atlantic. It has been immortalized in high culture (Shakespeare's Henry V) and low (the New York Post prints Henry's battle cry on its editorial page each Memorial Day). It is the classic underdog story in the history of warfare, and generations have wondered how the English -- outnumbered by the French six to one -- could have succeeded so bravely and brilliantly. Drawing upon a wide range of sources, eminent scholar Juliet Barker casts aside the legend and shows us that the truth behind Agincourt is just as exciting, just as fascinating, and far more significant. She paints a gripping narrative of the October 1415 clash between outnumbered English archers and heavily armored French knights. But she also takes us beyond the battlefield into palaces and common cottages to bring into vivid focus an entire medieval world in flux. Populated with chivalrous heroes, dastardly spies, and a ferocious and bold king, Agincourt is as earthshaking as its subject -- and confirms Juliet Barker's status as both a historian and a storyteller of the first rank.

    When Mary finds a framed motto promising that “It’s never too late to be who you might have been,” she is haunted by the memory of an old flame and guilt over the way things ended between them. In a desperate attempt to reconcile the past and find a new future, Mary returns to Paris, the city where she won and lost her first love. Paris will change everything for Mary and her daughter, in ways neither could imagine.

    The unprecedented scope of this collection provides the opportunity to study his more composed, aesthetically structured images alongside his snapshots, which offer a more anecdotal account of Doisneau's Paris. Organized thematically, the book leads us on an entrancing tour through the gardens of Paris, along the Seine, and through the crowds of Parisians who define their beloved city. More than 600 photographs-many rare, forgotten, and previously unpublished-are assembled in this beautiful volume to create a unique portrait of Paris. From toddlers scrambling to cross rue de Rivoli to fresh-faced accordionists, from elegant dog walkers to exuberant roller skaters, and from the indelible kiss in front of the Hétel de Ville to cyclists beneath the Eiffel Tower, the magic of Paris in black and white is a timeless treasure. The photographs, edited by Doisneau's daughter, are complemented by citations from the photographer himself, which reveal his profound fascination with the city where he lived and worked.

    The book is divided into a diary section and recipe chapters. Featuring starters, light lunches, main courses and desserts, the recipes include authentic versions of French classics - Vichyssoise, Pissaladiere, Bouillabasse, Cassoulet and Tarte Tatin - as well as new takes on traditional ingredients: Seared Foie Gras on Sweetcorn Pancakes, Fillets of John Dory with Cucumber and Noilly Prat, Rabbit with Agen Prunes and Polenta and Prune and Almond Tart with Armagnac. Fully illustrated with beautiful food photography by James Murphy and landscape photography by Craig Easton, Rick Stein's French Odyssey is both a souvenir of an unusual and idyllic journey through rural France and an inspiring collection of classic and original recipes. The good news is that the French rural gastronomic dream is still a reality, and the best of its food can be reproduced at home.

    Byron described her as "the first female writer of this, perhaps of any age," Germaine de Stäel was certainly the most remarkable woman of her time and she remains unique—both for the scope of her artistic and intellectual achievements, and the force of her political influence which helped to bring down Napoleon. Born in Paris in 1766, the daughter of Jacques Necker, Louis XVI's influential and reforming finance minister, Germaine de Stäel was brought up in her mother's salon, amidst the philosophers of the French Enlightenment. A prodigious and disciplined intellect, a need for love and a love of liberty, together with remarkable courage in both public and private life, de Stäel was driven to disregard dangers and conventions alike, often at great cost.

    Yet this region – which historians say has suffered more battles and wars than any other place on earth – is also the birthplace of one thing the entire world equates with good times, friendship and celebration: champagne.Champagne is the story of the world's favourite wine. It tells how a sparkling beverage that became the toast of society during the Belle Epoque emerged after World War I as a global icon of fine taste and good living. The book celebrates the gutsy, larger–than–life characters whose proud determination nurtured and preserved the land and its grapes throughout centuries of conflict.

    She certainly doesn't expect to meet Joshua Knight--an arrogant, infuriating, and absolutely gorgeous American. During sun-drenched tours of French vineyards and intimate wine tastings, Erica learns that the tall, sexy, and ambitious expatriate dreams of owning a vineyard someday...and that their mutual attraction is electric. But just when they realize their relationship is no passing fling, Erica's father falls ill, and she must abruptly leave France to take over the winery. Will she lose her newfound happiness because of family obligations? Or will fate find a way to bring the distant lovers together?

    Experience it not as a tourist but as a creator, where you dedicate yourself to the bohemian writing life in picturesque parks, cafes, and bookstores.Writers and other creative souls will be captivated by the metaphor and reality of Paris as the artist's true home, and how it can inspire you to create. Authored by today's leading creativity coach, Eric Maisel, it's an inspirational read, and a dream journey for creatives.

     Serving under Wellington with the 95th Rifles Leach saw action in Denmark, Portugal, Spain, France and Belgium. Leach’s memoir of his years of service provides fascinating insight into life serving on the frontlines across Europe as Wellington and his men attempted to end Napoleon’s domination of the continent. Through the course of the memoir Leach gives in depth analysis of various battles that he served in, including Roleia, Vimeira, Barba Del Puerco, the Coa, Buzaco, Sabugal, Fuentes D’Onoro, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, Nivelle, Toulouse, Quatre Bras, and of course Waterloo. Yet he also gives insight into what life was like as a soldier away from the heat of battle whilst serving in the Napoleonic Wars, how they entertained themselves, how they trained, and how the local populations viewed them. Jonathan Leach’s Captain of the 95th (Rifles) an Officer of Wellington's Sharpshooters During the Peninsular, South of France and Waterloo Campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars is essential reading for any student of the Napoleonic era. No other memoir of this period provides such brilliant insight into the life of a fighting man serving under Wellington. Jonathan Leach was captain of 1st Battalion in the 95th Rifles during the Napoleonic Wars. His book Captain of the 95th (Rifles) was first published in 1831 and Leach passed away in 1855.

    Curiosity and the legs of a cross-country runner propelled him daily from an unheated, seventh-floor walk-up garret near the Champs-Elysées to the old Montmartre haunts of the doomed painter Modigliani, the tombs of Père-Lachaise cemetery, the luxuriant alleys of the Luxembourg Gardens and the aristocratic Île Saint-Louis midstream in the Seine.Downie wound up living in the chic Marais district, married to the Paris-born American photographer Alison Harris, an equally incurable walker and chronicler. Ten books and a quarter-century later, he still spends several hours every day rambling through Paris, and writing about the city he loves.  An irreverent, witty romp featuring thirty-one short prose sketches of people, places and daily life, Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light ranges from the glamorous to the least-known corners and characters of the world’s favorite city. Photographs by Alison Harris. “I loved his collection of essays and anyone who’s visited Paris in the past, or plans to visit in the future, will be equally charmed as well.” —David Lebovitz, author of The Sweet Life in Paris “[A] quirky, personal, independent view of the city, its history and its people”—Mavis Gallant  “Gives fresh poetic insight into the city… a voyage into ‘the bends and recesses, the jagged edges, the secret interiors’ [of Paris].”— Departures

    She has never met her father, a prisoner of war in Germany. But then he returns and her mother switches her devotion to her husband. The girl realizes that she must win over her father to recover her position in the family. She confides a secret that will change their lives.Why Peirene chose to publish this book:'This is a poetic story about a girl’s love for her father. Told from the girl’s perspective, but with the clarity of an adult’s mind, we experience her desire to be noticed by the first man in her life. A rare examination of the bonds and boundaries between father and daughter.' Meike Ziervogel

    Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

    This guide does not aim to cover absolutely everything, but to provide a comprehensive overview with a selection of nearly 600 masterpieces from Antiquity to the mid-19th century.

    In this collection of Susan's favorites, readers and cooks will learn the tricks and tips of entertaining like the French, get clear instruction on the basics of French cooking, and be introduced to the new and exciting array of multicultural cuisines that are rapidly entering the realm of classic French. You will meet Susan's inspirations, from neighbors in her small town to starred chefs, as they share their own home recipes, which have become standard fare on Susan's own table.Susan invites the busy home cook to relax, unwind, and enjoy the tastes, textures, and aromas of simple yet often sophisticated French fare. The book is filled with contemporary recipes, such as Tuna with Ginger Yogurt Sauce and Cilantro Coulis, Spiced Fish Fillet in Parchment Paper, Skate with Potato Puree; classics, such as Soupe au Pistou, Coq au Vin, Pot-au-Feu, and Quiche Lorraine; and cross-cultural dishes, such as Chorba (Algerian Ramadan soup), Chicken Soup with Tamarind, and Lamb and Dried Plum Tagine with Toasted Almonds. What sets apart all of these recipes, from the contemporary to the classic, is Susan's clear presentation, which makes them so easily accessible.Susan's food, along with her warm hospitality, puts people at ease and makes them feel as if they are honored guests or members of Susan's own family.

    The descent of the French Revolution from rapturous liberation into an orgy of apparently pointless bloodletting has been the focus of countless reflections on the often malignant nature of humanity and the folly of revolution.David Andress, a leading historian of the French Revolution, presents a radically different account of the Terror. In a remarkably vivid and page-turning work of history, he transports the reader from the pitched battles on the streets of Paris to the royal family's escape through secret passageways in the Tuileries palace, and across the landscape of the tragic last years of the Revolution. The violence, he shows, was a result of dogmatic and fundamentalist thinking: dreadful decisions were made by groups of people who believed they were still fighting for freedom but whose survival was threatened by famine, external war, and counter-revolutionaries within the fledging new state. Urgent questions emerge from Andress's trenchant reassessment: When is it right to arbitrarily detain those suspected of subversion? When does an earnest patriotism become the rationale for slaughter?Combining startling narrative power and bold insight, The Terror is written with verve and exceptional pace. It is a dramatic new interpretation of the French Revolution that draws troubling parallels with today's political and religious dundamentalism."A vivid and powerful narrative of the years 1789-95... The narrative is dense yet fast-moving, from the storming of the Bastille to the execution of King Louis XVI to the paranoid politics of the National Convention." --DAVID GILMOUR, THE New York Times Book Review"In such alarming times, it is important to understand what exactly terror is, how it works politically, and what, if anything, can be done to combat it. The historian David Andress has made a serious contribution to this central subject of our times with an accessible account of the way terror overtook the French Revolution at the end of the eighteenth century." --RUTH SCURR, The Times (London)DAVID ANDRESS, a leading historian of the French Revolution, is Reader in Modern European History at the University of Portsmouth and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

    They stand as landmarks to a defining period in British history - and yet one which is in danger of slipping away from popular memory. Accompanying the major "Channel Four" series, "Not Forgotten" is a revealing look at the untold stories that lie behind these lists of names - stories of the impact of World War One on British society, the echoes of which can still be felt today. More than a conflict overseas, it was the catalyst for an extraordinary period of rapid and radical change to the social, cultural and political fabric of the nation. Social restrictions on women were revolutionised, from jobs and the vote to new freedoms in dress, behaviour and sexuality. The class system was thrown into disarray, both at home and on the front lines; roles were reversed in family life for a large part of the population, through bereavement, evacuation and children put to work in munitions factories. And as the state took drastic measures to cope with this turmoil, so the foundations were laid for the society in which we live today.

    He describes the basic techniques needed to create traditional French food and demonstrates 40 simple-to-follow versions of the most well-known French dishes. With step-by-step instructions and colour photographs to accompany every stage from start to finish, all 40 recipes are quick and easy to prepare and use readily available ingredients. All Raymond's recipes are simple, rustic and completely delicious, and whether you choose quick and easy Oeufs en Cocotte or Moules Marinières, for a more elaborate meal, his foolproof instructions guarantee excellent results every time.

    More than a decade after his death our knowledge of Messiaen is largely conditioned by what he said about himself in lectures and interviews, in his work as a teacher, and in the monumental seven-volume treatise that encompassed the whole of his composing world. But Messiaen’s public documents conceal as much as they reveal, seldom explaining why a work was written or what complexities went into its making. The composer was similarly reticent about his private life.This is the first book to explore the world that Messiaen was at pains to keep hidden. Based upon unprecedented access to Messiaen’s private archive granted to the authors by the composer’s widow, Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen, Peter Hill and Nigel Simeone trace the origins of many of Messiaen’s greatest works and place them in the context of his life, from his years at the Paris Conservatoire and his passionate first marriage to Claire Delbos through the immense achievements of his final decades.

    'France From the Air' enables you to recognise some of the most famous of French landmarks: the Pont du Gard, Notre Dame, Loire Valley castles, and the Bordeaux vineyards, as well as exploring the less known forest of Compiegnes, the Vanoise National Park, and the villages of Brittany and Normandy.

    More than a dozen French-speaking immigrant groups have been identified there, Cajuns and white Creoles being the most famous. In this guide to the amazing social, cultural, and linguistic variation within Louisiana's French-speaking region, Carl A. Brasseaux presents an overview of the origins and evolution of all the Francophone communities.Brasseaux examines the impact of French immigration on Louisiana over the past three centuries. He shows how this once-undesirable outpost of the French empire became colonized by individuals ranging from criminals to entrepreneurs who went on to form a multifaceted society -- one that, unlike other American melting pots, rests upon a French cultural foundation.A prolific author and expert on the region, Brasseaux offers readers an entertaining history of how these diverse peoples created south Louisiana's famous vibrant culture, interacting with African Americans, Spaniards, and Protestant Anglos and encountering influences from southern plantation life and the Caribbean. He explores in detail three still cohesive components in the Francophone melting pot, each one famous for having retained a distinct identity: the Creole communities, both black and white; the Cajun people; and the state's largest concentration of French speakers -- the Houma tribe.A product of thirty years' research, French, Cajun, Creole, Houma provides a reliable and understandable guide to the ethnic roots of a region long popular as an international tourist attraction.

    They received from him a seven-day retreat in the late summer of 1943. This book contains the talks he gave to the nuns: they are inspiring, but also warm-hearted reflections, on questions of key interest to his audience. Among the topics were love for Christ, for His Blessed Mother, the nuns’ Carmelite contemplative prayer life, and their religious observance, but all received deft treatment from this confrere who eventually became famous for his compassionate assistance to the persecuted in World War II. As a diocesan priest Père Jacques Bunel was frequently in demand as a preacher in his home diocese of Rouen (Normandy).Along with his duties as educator in a prep school in Le Havre he spoke at important public occasions. He was chosen to give the sermon that marked the five hundredth anniversary of the death of St. Joan of Arc in the Cathedral of Rouen, the city where she was burned at the stake.Afterwards, when he became a Discalced Carmelite friar (the cover photo shows him on the day he professed his vows), he continued to exercise a preaching ministry.We owe the full texts of those talks (to the Carmelite Nuns of Pontoise), as well as helpful notes and an introduction, to Rev. Dr. Francis J. Murphy. Father Murphy, a diocesan priest who has become a good friend of the Carmelites through his interest in Père Jacques, collaborating with them as he collaborates with his historian colleagues, teaches at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. This collection of talks extends the knowledge Father Murphy has provided to the public in the biography volume he named and published at ICS Publications with the title: Père Jacques, Resplendent in Victory.

    When Franklin stepped onto French soil, he well understood he was embarking on the greatest gamble of his career. By virtue of fame, charisma, and ingenuity, Franklin outmaneuvered British spies, French informers, and hostile colleagues; engineered the Franco-American alliance of 1778; and helped to negotiate the peace of 1783. The eight-year French mission stands not only as Franklin's most vital service to his country but as the most revealing of the man. In A Great Improvisation, Stacy Schiff draws from new and little-known sources to illuminate the least-explored part of Franklin's life. Here is an unfamiliar, unforgettable chapter of the Revolution, a rousing tale of American infighting, and the treacherous backroom dealings at Versailles that would propel George Washington from near decimation at Valley Forge to victory at Yorktown. From these pages emerges a particularly human and yet fiercely determined Founding Father, as well as a profound sense of how fragile, improvisational, and international was our country's bid for independence.

    Illustrated by Dominique Zehrfuss. Translated with an introduction by Damion SearlsPublished in English for the first time, 28 Paradises is the marriage of prose and painting by Nobel-prize winning author Patrick Modiano and his partner, the illustrator Dominique Zehrfuss. 28 Paradises is a rare book: it reveals not only the individual talents of the authors, Modiano and Zehrfuss, but also the depth of the couple’s creative union. Sensitively translated into English for the first time by Damion Searls, 28 Paradises captures the exquisite sadness of waking from a beautiful dream. There are twenty-eight dreams in this book, or perhaps one dream in twenty-eight parts—visions of paradise imagined by Zehrfuss during a time of deep sadness. Captured first in Zehrfuss’s brightly colored gouaches, each paradise was then refashioned as a poem by Modiano.Zehrfuss’s paintings are Edens in miniature, and rather than describe them outright, Modiano dreams himself into these reveries in quiet, understated verse. The reader enters this shared realm in an experience less like paging through a book and more like slipping into a shared world. These paradises are wishes for moments when a painting, or a poem, or a lover—perhaps they are not so different—relieves the loneliness of being human. As Modiano writes with a touch of wistfulness, “The Lilliputian painted her paradises / And I / Next to her / Wrote a poem.” A pure example of ekphrastic writing—poetry inspired by paintings—this book shows how writing and visual art can together create a unique emotional experience.

    

    

    By the age of twenty the Anglo-Frenchman had survived shipwreck and years undercover in France, sabotaging German supply lines. Returning to Britain, he was recruited by SOE to parachute behind enemy lines on 5 June 1944, to unite resistance forces in Brittany and paralyse local German troops during the Allied invasion. Though Hue's mission was fraught with difficulty - he missed his landing site, his secret base camp became the site of a pitch battle and a band of Cossacks tried to hunt him down - he knew that thousands of lives depended on his success or failure . . .

    In this masterful book, Robert Doughty explains how and why France assumed this role and offers new insights into French strategy and operational methods. French leaders, favouring a multi-front strategy, believed the Allies could maintain pressure on several fronts around the periphery of the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires and eventually break the enemy's defences. But France did not have sufficient resources to push the Germans back from the Western Front and attack elsewhere. The offensives they launched proved costly, and their tactical and operational methods ranged from remarkably effective to disastrously ineffective.

    You slip out of your poster bed, open french windows and step onto a stone balcony. You take in the view of surrounding vineyards that slope down to a quaint tile-roofed village in the misty river valley below. This isn’t a dream. You can actually spend the night in an authentic French château or manor house, one with all the personal care of a bed-and-breakfast. For centuries, the country’s small châteaux have remained secret, closed to all but the families of the owners. But in recent years, in efforts to generate revenue for preservation, many families are throwing open the doors and inviting the public in to stay. French Country Hideaways takes you inside 35 of these hidden gems where you can experience true French country living. At these châteaux d’hôte you will meet the owner-innkeeper and get to know the individual spirit of the place. These off-the-beaten-track estates were selected because each possesses a unique bond to the land. None of the properties has more than fifteen guest rooms, and most offer table d’hôte meals in the evenings that showcase the specialties of the region. France remains the number one European destination for Americans, and its three most popular regions are the focus here. Gloriously photographed by Franco-American Stephanie Cardon and complete with listings for recommended nearby restaurants and activities, French Country Hideaways is a wonderful guide for those planning or just dreaming about a visit to these enchanted landscapes.

    It traces Napoleon's rise from Corsican military cadet to Emperor of the French, chronicles his military campaigns, explains the mistakes that led to his removal from power, and explores his lasting impact on Europe and the world. Discover * How Napoleon built -- and lost -- an empire * The forces that influenced him * Why he created the Napoleonic Code * The inside story on Josephine * How he helped shape modern-day Europe

    Unwanted by his relatives, he is forced to spend the remainder of the war as an unpaid laborer. For three wordless years on the farm, this thirteen-year-old is assailed by suffering, death, sex, and the back-breaking labor of shoveling manure. Sixty years later, in the United States, Federman—the author? the narrator? both?—wrestles with nostalgia and bitterness. He finally returns to the farm with his wife, but once the journey is complete he no longer knows why he has made it, nor what he expected to find. Through the merger of fact and fiction, storytelling and reality, memoir and imagination, Return to Manure extends and enhances Raymond Federman’s brilliant ability to side-step narration’s limits and impossibilities.

    It features beautiful images of aristocratic dining rooms set for dinner, rustic kitchens in the midst of preparing a delicious meal, fragrant flower gardens, antique furniture and exquisitely embroidered linen.

    

    But the 51 bistros profiled here stand apart from the others by virtue of their food, often regional dishes native to the owners' home province, and wine, often a short but well-chosen list from small vineyards with which the owner has a longstanding relationship.Some of the gems included in Authentic Bistros of Paris include: * Le Bistrot de peintre, frequented by artists and gallery owners, with a façade that is considered the most beautiful example of the Modern style in Paris * The exquisite La Palette, with its incomparable terrace and celebrity clientele, from Pablo Picasso to Catherine Deneuve * The picturesque La Tartine, “the most-photographed bar in Paris” * Le Petit fer a cheval, where more than 20 select small-label wines are offered, and served to patrons seated on recycled metro benches or at the horseshoe-shaped antique bar * Chez Georges, the archetypical Latin Quarter wine bar, frequented by a convivial mélange of old-timers, students, and locals.This discriminating little guide offers an endless source of charming and unpretentious places to enjoy a morning coffee, savor a memorable meal, or sip an afternoon aperitif in the most authentic Parisian settings.Sumptuous color photographs throughout.

    They proposed a vast, state-run pedagogical project to replace sensationalism with a new psychology that showcased an indivisible and actively willing self, or moi. As conceived and executed by Victor Cousin, a derivative philosopher but an academic entrepreneur of genius, this long-lived project singled out the male bourgeoisie for training in selfhood. Granting everyone a self in principle, Cousin and his disciples deemed workers and women incapable of the introspective finesse necessary to appropriate that self in practice. Beginning with a fresh consideration of the place of sensationalism in the Old Regime and the French Revolution, Jan Goldstein traces a post-Revolutionary politics of selfhood that reserved the Cousinian moi for the educated elite, outraging Catholics and consigning socially marginal groups to the ministrations of phrenology. eighteenth-century sensationalism and twentieth-century Freudianism, Goldstein suggests that the resolutely unitary self of the nineteenth century was only an interlude tailored to the needs of the post-Revolutionary bourgeois order.

    But despite her dreams of a royal wedding, it seems Rodolfo's princess must be chosen for her blue blood, not her red-carpet reputationMARRIAGE SCANDAL, SHOWBIZ BABY! By Sharon Kendrick The world's most glamorous couple, Jennifer Warren and Matteo D'Arezzo, are on the red carpet at their latest premiere--despite having just split up! Watching their steamy movie together sparks unstoppable passion and with life-changing consequencesSEX, LIES AND A SECURITY TAPE By Jackie Braun Rumor has it former film star Colin McKinnon's got serious political ambition. No wonder he can't afford to be seen with infamous Tempest Herriman. Too bad he's been caught on CCTV in flagrante with the wild child!

    But Croiza's advice is notoriously difficult to follow when performing French m�lodies. Just how do you approach a French poem? In the lyric poetry on which the m�lodie is based, meaning is conveyed not just through the words but also through the poem's formal structure.Understanding French Verse: A Guide for Singers explains this formal structure and sets out the basics of French versification, using examples drawn from a wide range of well-known song settings. Its chapters examine French meters, stanzaic forms, sonnets, rondels and other fixed forms, rhyme and sound patterning, and free verse poems. Written in a clear and concise way, it explains the Alexandrine, how to distinguish different meters by counting syllables, and how to identify stresses in French verse. The book also illustrates how rhyme works and the ways in which a French sonnet differs from its counterpart in English. And it demonstrates how the understanding of verse techniques enhances the interpretation and enjoyment of the m�lodie. The book also offers valuable resources, including a brief history of French versification, detailed analysis of several poems, a glossary of technical terms, and suggestions for further reading.While other books help singers with French diction, or offer translations of French texts, no other book helps a singer understand the meaning behind what they are singing. Understanding French Verse is an essential tool for singers, accompanists, and other musicians who want to understand more about the French texts with which they are working. It also provides a useful basic introduction to students of French poetry.

    However, although they form a vital and varied body of verse, their literary achievements have been represented almost exclusively, and to some extent atypically, by the Chanson de Roland. This volume offers a selection in translation of the surviving chansons.The poems translated here (Gormont and Isembart, The Song of William, Charlemagne's Pilgrimage, Raoul of Cambrai, Girart of Vienne and The Knights of Narbonne) are taken from all three Old French epic song cycles, and apart from their individual merits, display the complete range of themes, episodes and character types which were the life-blood of the chanson de geste genre. They vary considerably in metre and narrative length, tone and diction, but all reflect the general development in the artistic modes and social purposes of this heroic poetry during the main period of its popularity; the translation aims to preserve the dynamic, musical quality of the orally-transmitted originals. Each is accompanied by an introduction and a select bibliography, providing important information both for the general reader, and for those more familiar with the genre.

    Judith Mayne's comprehensive study traces Denis's career and discusses her major feature films in rich detail. Born in Paris but raised in West Africa, Denis explores in her films the legacies of French colonialism and the complex relationships between sexuality, gender, and race. From the adult woman who observes her past as a child in Cameroon to the Lithuanian immigrant who arrives in Paris and watches a serial killer to the disgraced French Foreign Legionnaire attempting to make sense of his past, the subjects of Denis's films continually revisit themes of watching, bearing witness, and making contact, as well as displacement, masculinity, and the migratory subject.

    But, haunted by ghosts from his former life, and determined to confront his dark legacy, he escapes and heads toward his beloved Finier, a rural town in the south of France where he once served as prefect. His return will have explosive consequences.By turns reflective and slyly humorous, Crawl Space poignantly describes one man's tragic attempt to come to terms with the past.

    Their supposedly fictional duel with Cardinal Richelieu's guards actually took place in 1640 and Charles d'Artagnan, a teenager on his first day in Paris, fought alongside the Musketeers. According to Oxford historian Macdonald, several other elements of the tale are also based in fact — the Cardinal's agent, Milady de Winter, really was an English aristocrat, and against all odds, the country boy without influence, d'Artagnan, did succeed in becoming Captain of the King's Musketeers, the only man whom Louis XIV could trust to arrest his over-mighty minister, Fouquet. It was d'Artagnan who escorted Fouquet to the feared Alpine fortress of Pignerol, wherein lived the most mysterious of all prisoners, the Man in the Iron Mask. Macdonald has spent five years unraveling fact from fiction to reveal the true story of the Musketeers and their link with the Man in the Iron Mask. It is a reality more extraordinary than anything Dumas could devise. Honor and heroism, betrayal and intrigue, are set amidst the lust, jealousy, and deadly poisons that made the Sun King's court a world of glittering paranoia.

    Shelled, bombed, shot at by snipers and poisoned by mustard gas, he somehow managed to survive the momentous and infamous battles of Passchendaele, Ypres, Messines and the Somme - and then in 1930, now in his thirties, he revisited France and the scenes of his boyhood terror. Len wrote a journal of his trip back to the battlefields in 1930, drawing on the detailed notes he had kept as a boy soldier from 1916-1919 before the Second World war, and wrote about the memories that surfaced, and the way he was now able to think about things as an adult that had been happening all around him as that frightened young boy His nephew, Allan Marriott, has used Len's extraordinary record to tell the story of life in the trenches from two perspectives - the raw and vulnerable boy and the seasoned man - providing a unique insight into one of the blackest periods of our recent history.

    Each spread invites the reader to recognise specific moments described in simple, evocative phrases. Tell me if you like...waking up thinking that it's Tuesday or Wednesday and then realising that it's Saturday!...wobbling your loose tooth with your tongue...waking up in the middle of the night, lovely and warm in your bed, and listening to the storm outside and the noise of the rain on the roof...pretending that a witch has changed you into an animal. Are you a snail, a zebra, a butterfly or an elephant?...staring at the moon until you see cities, oceans, roads and buildings...smelling the air after fireworks have exploded The stylish, naive artwork matches the simple text perfectly, combining to create a humorous catalogue of small joys. The book acts as a trigger for those fleeting childish memories - composed of particular smells, colours, sounds and sensations - that are treasured somewhere in the depths of our imagination.

    The Image, by "Jean de Berg" (Catherine Robbe-Grillet) so thrilled her husband, a somewhat better-known Alain, that he wrote a nifty preface to her work, signing off as "Pauline Reage." And Diane Bataille, who'd heard quite enough about her husband, author and erotic bibliographer Georges, decided one day to pen The Whip Angels, having it published by Maurice Girodias' infamous Olympia Press under the name "XXX." These two classic works of sexuality were published in '55 and '56, bookending the Story of O. The Olympia Press is pleased to bring them both to you in one volume.

    Elizabeth Hyde reveals how flowers became uniquely capable of revealing the curiosity, reason, and taste of those elite men who engaged in their cultivation. The cultural and increasingly political value of such qualities was not lost on royal panegyrists, who seized on the new meanings of flowers in celebrating the glory of Louis XIV. Using previously unexplored archival sources, Hyde recovers the extent of floral plantations in the gardens of Versailles and the sophisticated system of nurseries created to fulfill the demands of the king's gardeners. She further examines how the successful cultivation of those flowers made it possible for Louis XIV to demonstrate that his reign was a golden era surpassing even that of antiquity.Cultivated Power expands our knowledge of flowers in European history beyond the Dutch tulip mania and restores our understanding of the importance of flowers in the French classical garden. The book also develops a fuller perspective on the roles of gender, rank, and material goods in the age of the baroque. Using flowers to analyze the movement of culture in early modern society, Cultivated Power ultimately highlights the influence of curious florists on the taste of the king and the extension of the cultural into the realm of the political.

    This publication is devoted to his technical and planning-oriented thinking. From the start--first as an ironmonger, then as an industrialist during the heyday of the ateliers in Max�ville, later with CIMT and as an engineering consultant--Jean Prouv� pursued the project of construction "by industry," as he himself phrased it in the title of his book Une architecture par l'industrie (Architecture by Industry). The volume provides an overview of his technical ideas and concepts, his tools and production structures, his collaborative work with architects and engineers as well as characteristic projects: furniture, buildings and construction systems. Prouv�'s world is not only explored here in essays by 42 authors, and is also represented in Prouv�'s own texts and drawings for his lectures at CNAM, the Conservatoire national des arts et m�tiers.

    Unpicking the basic assumptions behind both national traditions, this book explains them, reconciles them and offers entirely new ways to take the study of aristocracy forward in both England and France.The Birth of Nobility analyses the enormous international field of publications on the subject of medieval aristocracy, breaking it down into four key debates: noble conduct, noble lineage, noble class and noble power. Each issue is subjected to a thorough review by comparing current scholarship with what a vast range of historical source material actually says. It identifies the points of divergence in the national traditions of each of these debates and highlights where they have been mutually incomprehensible.For students studying medieval Europe.

    For travelers searching for the city's soul who want more than the tried-and-true tourist sites, Wandering Paris is your ticket to discovering your own true and authentic Paris.Through charming illustrations and evocative text, artist Jill Butler (Rendez-Vous in France) presents her beloved city in myriad moods, allowing a perfect match for any particular day. Each outing starts with a point of departure and a map, and ends with suggestions for dinner or an aperitif. Examples include: >A water adventure>An art day>A flea market expedition>Shopping Parisian style>A bakery moment (or several!)>A tour of exceptional design>An early morning adventure>Late-night people-watching>And much more!Whether rollerblading through the streets of Paris late into the night or combing the flea markets for hidden treasures, this artist's notebook shares a Parisian's inside knowledge, much as a friend would tailor a visit just for you.

    Blessed with brains, money and an acute sense of humor, she was also intrepid, savvy, sensitive and the star of her very own thriller.When Edmund Wilson suggests that she translate Proust’s letters, she sets off for Paris with “Ma’s sables,” her typewriter, charcoal briquettes to keep herself warm (in postwar 1947), a case of bourbon and letters of introduction from people like May Sarton and Harold Nicolson to people like George Balanchine and Julian Huxley.We are with her every step of the way as she makes the Proustian world come to life again, from the aristocratic salons of the Faubourg Saint-Germain to her poignant meetings with Celeste Albaret, Proust’s legendary housekeeper and companion.

    Taking the reader on a gastronomic tour of the city, Parisian Food Shops offers a unique guide to the best addresses for savoring the flavors of Paris, where sampling reigns supreme. Beautiful shops and boutiques offer delectable pastry and tarts, chocolate and candy, wine, bread, and cheese, olive oil, tea, and soup: the finest products from France's many celebrated regions and across the globe.The authors traversed the streets of the capital to bring together this mix of traditional and exoticflavors, organic and fusion trends that embody Parisian delicacies—both sweet and savory. Sarramon's photographs present a feast for both eyes and stomach: from the Cakes de Bertrand, served in a romantic old-world interior, to the Maison des 3 Thès, with its expensive teas and lavish décor. The shops, often created by a great chef or famous name in French gastronomy, may include a "take-out" counter of catered fare for a no-fuss feast at home.From the most traditional establishments to the hottest new addresses, an indispensable address book completes the selection to provide the epicurean visitor with satisfaction in every quarter of the capital. Rich with ideas for eating well, Parisian Food Shops is the ultimate indulgence!

    A conservative who brought the communists into his government and an imperialist who completed France's decolonisation in Algeria.

    This book accompanies an exhibition of 74 paintings and 8 drawings that embody the core of the two artists' collaboration and explores their artistic relationship in detail. Their dynamic interaction began with their first meeting at the Academie Suisse, Paris, circa 1861, and continued through much of their careers. To examine the techniques that Cazanne and Pissarro adopted in response to each other's work, the exhibition and book juxtapose related works by both artists, reuniting many of them for the first time since they were created. The friendship between Cazanne and Pissarro was of considerable importance within the development of early modernism. An essay by Joachim Pissarro discusses this fascinating interchange and offers new insights into both the shared and the distinctive elements of the two artists' aesthetic sensibility.

    In 1942, a full two years before D-Day, thousands of men, mostly Canadian troops eager for their first taste of battle, were sent across the English Channel in a raid on the French port town of Dieppe. Air supremacy was not secured; the topography--a town hemmed in by tall cliffs and reached by steep beaches--meant any invasion was improbably difficult. The result was carnage: the beaches were turned into killing grounds even as the men came ashore, and whole battalions were cut to pieces.In this book, Robin Neillands has traced numerous surviving veterans of the Raid, in the United Kingdom and Canada, to tell the harrowing story of what actually took place, hour by hour, as disaster unfolded. He has also exhaustively explored all the archival evidence to establish as far as possible the paper trail of command, of who knew--or should have known--what was happening, and whether the whole debacle could have been prevented. The result is the definitive account of one of the Allies' darkest hours.

    As the war ended, Nicole married an American officer, then sailed to the United States as a "war bride" in 1946.Mektoub is Nicole's story of her coming-of-age amid the uncertainties of war in North Africa and Europe. This memoir chronicles her experiences during World War II and her relationships with people she loved and lost.

    British historian Jon Cooksey explains why Churchill's government suppressed this account of the May-June

    His outnumbered force of men-at-arms and archers repelled the repeated charges of the French mounted men and killed or captured the leading members of the French nobility. The encounter changed the course of the war and made a mark on English and French history that endures to this day. In this compelling new study, medieval historian Michael K. Jones looks critically at the historical evidence and retells in graphic detail the story of this extraordinary campaign. He also provides a fascinating tour of the sites associated with it - Harfleur, Henry V's route across northern France and the Agincourt battlefield itself.