Suggestion 1: Revisit the classics

Let’s look at who you’ve studied during this course:

Middle Ages

Charles d’Orléans

Marie de France

Christine de Pizan

Anonymous satire

Renaissance

François Rabelais

Joachim du Bellay

Pierre de Ronsard

Louise Labé

Michel de Montaigne

17th Century

La Rochefoucauld

La Fontaine

René Descartes

Blaise Pascal

Molière

18th Century

Montesquieu

Voltaire

Rousseau

19th Century

Victor Hugo

Gustave Flaubert

Arthur Rimbaud

20th Century

Léon Gontran Damas

Léopold Senghor

Gabrielle Roy

Jean Anouilh

That’s a lot to have covered in one course, but it is still just a small sample of the great works. My first suggestion for further study is to go back and read more from authors you now know. The obvious advantage to revisiting authors you’ve studied is that you have some background knowledge to contextualize their works. And of course, you know which ones you like.

For further canonical study ideas, you can look at what we ask our M.A. students to read.(http://frenital.byu.edu/mareadinglist.html)

You can also consult the ever-popular Wikipedia for an overview of literary history and an impressive list of selected classics.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_literature)