Focusing on the interplay between individual and institutions, The French Polity is the most current and comprehensive text for introducing students to... the changing and enduring characteristics of the French political scene. It combines historical perspective and contextual information on French society to clearly explain the evolution and health of this country’s political institutions, process, and culture. Throughout, William Safran, a leading area studies expert, goes beyond description to offer original analyses of French politics.

 For over a century, the idea of primitivism has motivated artistic modernism. Focusing on the three decades after World War II, known in France as... “les trentes glorieuses” despite the loss of most of the country’s colonial empire, this probing and expansive book argues that primitivism played a key role in a French society marked by both economic growth and political turmoil.In a series of chapters that consider significant aspects of French culture—including the creation of new museums of French folklore and of African and Oceanic arts and the development of tourism against the backdrop of nuclear testing in French Polynesia—Daniel J. Sherman shows how primitivism, a collective fantasy born of the colonial encounter, proved adaptable to a postcolonial, inward-looking age of mass consumption. Following the likes of Claude Lévi-Strauss, Andrée Putman, and Jean Dubuffet through decorating magazines, museum galleries, and Tahiti’s pristine lagoons, this interdisciplinary study provides a new perspective on primitivism as a cultural phenomenon and offers fresh insights into the eccentric edges of contemporary French history.

Among the most enduring of French cultural institutions, the salon, is among the most misunderstood. Seen primarily as a venue for apolitical social... gatherings, the salon's influence is generally believed to have ended during the French Revolution. In French Salons, Steven Kale challenges conventional thinking about the salon. Drawing on an impressive range of primary sources, he offers a nuanced history of this institution from the eighteenth century through the Revolution of 1848 which emphasizes continuity and evolution over disjuncture and highlights its shifting political character and relevance.Salons, Kale shows, originally provided opportunities for the exchange of literary and philosophical ideas among the French aristocracy. Central to the maintenance of salon culture were salonnières, aristocratic women such as Madame de Staël who opened their homes to fellow elites and nurtured a sociability that united the members of high society. Salons provided ready-made venues for aristocratic politics during the early years of the French Revolution, when salons were transformed into places where the upper classes could express their political opinions and concerns. Even at the height of the Terror, salons did not dissolve but, rather, were displaced as aristocrats moved their social networks of influence to such cities as Coblenz, Brussels, and London. Napoleon sought to manipulate salon culture for his own ends, but with his fall from power, salons reemerged and proliferated. Although never intended to serve as political clubs, salons became informal sites for the cultivation of political capital and the exchange of political ideas during the Bourbon Restoration and the July Monarchy.By 1848, the conditions that sustained aristocratic sociability declined, and salons became increasingly marginal to French public life. At the same time, new political institutions—parties, the press, legislative bodies—emerged that more effectively disseminated and shaped political opinion and led to real political change. Challenging many of the conclusions of recent historiography, including the depiction of salonnières as influential power brokers, French Salons offers an original, penetrating, and engaging analysis of elite culture and society in France before, during, and after the Revolution.

The largest, most comprehensive collection of French art songs ever published, with 60 songs by 24 composers. This wonderful anthology, with newly... researched editions in clean new engravings, includes interesting notes about the composers, poets, facts about the composition and performance history for each song, and new line-by-line translations for study. Some songs are published in transpositions for the first time. This is the ideal collection for teachers to assign to voice students. Includes the complete Le Bestiaire (Poulenc) and Five Greek Songs (Ravel).

(Vocal Collection). The largest, most comprehensive collection of French art songs ever published, with 60 songs by 24 composers. This wonderful... anthology, with newly researched editions in clean new engravings, includes interesting notes about the composers, poets, facts about the composition and performance history for each song, and new line-by-line translations for study. Some songs are published in transpositions for the first time. This is the ideal collection for teachers to assign to voice students.

“A great story, full of twists and turns. . . . Careers made and ruined, departments torn apart, writing programs turned into sensitivity seminars,... political witch hunts, public opprobrium, ignorant media attacks, the whole ball of wax. Read it and laugh or read it and weep. I can hardly wait for the movie.” —Stanley Fish, Think Again, New York Times “In such a difficult genre, full of traps and obstacles, French Theory is a success and a remarkable book in every respect: it is fair, balanced, and informed. I am sure this book will become the reference on both sides of the Atlantic.” —Jacques Derrida “The Atlantic Ocean has two sides, and so does French Theory. Reinvented in America and betrayed in its own country, it has become the most radical intellectual movement in the West with global reach, rewriting Marx in light of late capitalism. Breathtakingly moving back and forth between the two cultures, Francois Cusset takes us through a dazzling intellectual adventure that illuminates the past thirty years, and many more decades to come.” —Sylvere Lotringer   During the last three decades of the twentieth century, a disparate group of radical French thinkers achieved an improbable level of influence and fame in the United States. Compared by at least one journalist to the British rock ‘n’ roll invasion, the arrival of works by Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Jean-François Lyotard, Jean Baudrillard, Gilles Deleuze, and Félix Guattari on American shores in the late 1970s and 1980s caused a sensation.   Outside the academy, “French theory” had a profound impact on the era’s emerging identity politics while also becoming, in the 1980s, the target of right-wing propagandists. At the same time in academic departments across the country, their poststructuralist form of radical suspicion transformed disciplines from literature to anthropology to architecture. By the 1990s, French theory was woven deeply into America’s cultural and intellectual fabric.   French Theory is the first comprehensive account of the American fortunes of these unlikely philosophical celebrities. François Cusset looks at why America proved to be such fertile ground for French theory, how such demanding writings could become so widely influential, and the peculiarly American readings of these works. Reveling in the gossipy history, Cusset also provides a lively exploration of the many provocative critical practices inspired by French theory. Ultimately, he dares to shine a bright light on the exultation of these thinkers to assess the relevance of critical theory to social and political activism today-showing, finally, how French theory has become inextricably bound with American life.   François Cusset, a writer and intellectual historian, teaches contemporary French thought in Paris at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques and at Columbia University’s Reid Hall. His books include Queer Critics and La Décennie.   Jeff Fort is assistant professor of French at the University of California, Davis. He has translated works by Maurice Blanchot, Jean Genet, and Jean-Luc Nancy.

The new Stein/Blume, French Three Years, Second Edition, is designed to give students a comprehensive review and thorough understanding of the elements... of the French language and the highlights of French culture. This new edition was revised to incorporate and reflect the national Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st century: cultural cpmpetence, comparisons, connections, communities, and communication (the 5 Cs). This book demonstrates how the acquisition of French is connected and interwoven with the principles of critical thinking, learning strategies, and the mastery of subject areas. It also reflects how French is used not only in France but throughout the world.

Purpose: To provide a complete review of the elements of first-level French plus the materials for the second year. Of particular help to students are... the supplementary structural explanations and multiple practice in a variety of combinations for each point of grammar. Division into several carefully organized parts: verbs, grammatical structures, idioms, vocabulary, civilisation francaise. Each lesson an entity in itself, dealing with a particular structural topic for maximum flexibility of assignment. Clear and concise explanations of structure accompanied by copious examples. Mastery exercises in each chapter. Special chapters on idioms and word study, all with practice materials. Materials for practice and testing in speaking, listening comprehension, reading comprehension, and writing. Appendix of verb tables, rules of French punctuation, and syllabication. End vocabulary, French-English and English-French. Comprehensive grammar index. Workbook Softbound, 8 1/4" x 10 3/4", 622 pages

completed three levels of French and who are ready to explore the language and literature of France in greater depth. Self-contained chapters, each... concentrating on one topic, for flexibility of use; Structure and idiom chapters to strengthen linguistic skill; Consise chronological overview of French literature from its origin to the present, along with selections of woth and interest as examples. And much more...

Approximately 300 of the most frequently used French verbs are presented in the form of clear, easy-to-read conjugation tables. Arranged alphabetically... by infinitive, one verb per page, each verb is defined in English. At the bottom of each page are sample sentences and related words and expressions. The book also includes thorough instruction in verb usage, as well as a listing of verbs that are conjugated like the main verb. Titles in Barron's Verbs series are shorter versions of Barron's 501 Verbs series. These smaller-format references make handy sources for language students, teachers, and translators.

A summary of regular and irregular verbs. 4-page laminated guide includes: ·verb components ·regular verbs ·simple tenses ·perfect tenses... ·irregular verbs ·simple tenses ·perfect tenses ·past participle ·more ways to use verbs ·important verbs & idiomatic expressions