21st Century

Literature from the

Philippines and the
World. Teacher Donna
 FRENCH
LITERATURE
Teacher Donna
France as a
Nation
• France, in Western Europe, encompasses medieval cities, alpine
villages and Mediterranean beaches.
• Paris, its capital, is famed for its fashion houses, classical art
museums including the Louvre and monuments like the Eiffel Tower.
• The country is also renowned for its wines and sophisticated cuisine.
Lascaux’s ancient cave drawings, Lyon’s Roman theater and the vast
Palace of Versailles attest to its rich history.
• Population: 67.5 million (2021) World Bank
• Official language: French
 Early Days of French Literature
• For centuries, French literature has been an object of national pride for French
people, and it has been one of the most influential components of the literature
of Europe.
• A high proportioned of literary trends have originated in France.
• France itself ranks first on the list of Nobel Prizes in literature by country.
• Beginning in the 11th century, literature written in medieval French was one of
the oldest vernacular (non-Latin) literatures in western Europe and it became a
key source of literary themes in the Middle Ages across the continent.
• literature in France in the 16th century underwent a major creative evolution, and
through the political and artistic programs of the Ancient Régime, French
literature came to dominate European letters in the 17th century.
FAMOUS FRENCH
WRITERS AND
THEIR NOTABLE
WORKS
 Jean-Paul Sartre

• Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was one of the

key figures in the philosophy of existentialism.
• A French playwright, novelist, screenwriter,
political activist, biographer, and literary critic, as
well as a leading figure in 20th-century French
philosophy and Marxism.
• He was awarded with Nobel Prize for Literature
1964, but declined it.
 NOTABLE WORK
• His first novel Nausée (1938) (Nausea) articulates the
existentialist themes of alienation, devotion and loneliness.
• His play Huis Clos (1944) (No Exit) depicts hell as a perpetual
co-existence with other people, while
• Les Mouches (The Flies) is an adaptation of the ancient Electra
myth.
• His autobiography Les Mots (1964) (The Words), in which the
author tries to distance himself from his writing and reconstruct
his childhood, was received with great acclaim when it came out.
PATRICK MODIANO
• Jean Patrick Modiano was born on July 30,1945.
• A novelist and recipient of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature.
• He is a noted writer of autofiction, the blend of autobiography
and historical fiction.
• His works have been translated into more than 30 languages
and have been celebrated in and around France, but most of
his novels had not been translated into English before he was
awarded the Nobel Prize.
 NOTABLE WORK

• Dora Bruder (1997) The search warrant

~ About an attempt to reconstruct the life of a missing Jewish

girl; and a memoir of his first 21 years.
 ANNIE ERNAUX

• Annie Thérèse Blanche Ernaux

• Is a French writer, professor of literature and Nobel
laureate.
• Started her literary career in 1974 with Les Armoires
vides (Cleaned Out), an autobiographical novel.
• Her literary work, mostly autobiographical, maintains
close links with sociology.
• She was awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature
 NOTABLE WORK
• Les Années (2008; The Years),

• Considered as her masterpiece

• A personal and collective history of postwar France.
• It garnered her the Marguerite Duras and the François Mauriac
prizes.
 French Nobel Prize in Literature Winners
1901 – Sully Prudhomme (The first Nobel Prize in Literature)
1904 – Frédéric Mistral (wrote in Occitan)
1915 – Romain Rolland
1921 – Anatole France
1927 – Henri Bergson
1937 – Roger Martin du Gard
1947 – André Gide
1952 – François Mauriac
1957 – Albert Camus
1960 – Saint-John Perse
1964 – Jean-Paul Sartre (declined the prize)
1969 – Samuel Beckett (Irish, wrote in English and French)
1985 – Claude Simon
2008 – J. M. G. Le Clézio
2014 – Patrick Modiano
2022 - Annie Ernaux
Thank
You!