Essays on twentieth-century French playwrights who were largely influenced by non-French traditions, during the greatest age of French theater since the mid 1700s. French drama of the twentieth-century was cosmopolitan, experimental and eclectic and attempted to appeal to a wider audience than in the past. Dramatists came not only from Paris but from the provinces and the French states of the Caribbean as well as from Francophone countries such as Belgium.

This book assembles fifteen essays by different hands on dramatic literature written in French in the twentieth century. The great majority of the essays deal with plays published after 1939. Each chapter is an original study of aspects of the work of a given author that have been overlooked or inadequately treated in the scholarly literature to date. Most of the greatest French dramatists of the century are represented in the volume, although several of the authors studied are not primarily known for their contributions to dramatic literature, while the inclusion of a 'provincial' playwright and of two Québécois dramatists seeks to surprise readers by reminding them that Paris does not enjoy a total monopoly on French-speaking theatre. The book has as its primary aim to illustrate the vitality and the sheer variety of drama written in French during the century.

Until recently, French women playwrights had received almost no critical attention and their works were for the most part completely unknown, but this volume is evidence of the important contribution they have made to world literature. It presents an extensive list of the dramatic works of more than 400 French women playwrights from the 16th through 19th centuries and includes brief biographical information, as well as publication, performance, and availability information for nearly 3,000 plays. The volume includes authors who are relatively unknown, as well as more canonical names such as Marguerite de Navarre and George Sand. The book is divided into four chapters, each devoted to a particular century with authors listed alphabetically. Each entry includes basic biographical information about the author, such as pseudonyms, place and date of birth and death, professions or activities for which the author is known, and other genres in which the author wrote. Plays are listed chronologically under the author's name.

This checklist is witness to the vast and varied production of 20th-century French women playwrights. Like Beach's preceding volume, French Women Playwrights Before the Twentieth Century: A Checklist (Greenwood, 1994), this reference book presents an extensive list of dramatic works. Beach provides biographical information about the authors when known, as well as name variations (pseudonyms, maiden name, other marriages, etc.) The plays are listed chronologically under each author's name, followed by a variety of information about each work: genre, the place and date of publication and performances, and the location of over 2000 texts in published or manuscript form in French holding libraries. The checklist also includes a title index and a bibliography. This book provides a useful research tool not only for scholars interested in drama and/or women's literature, but also for theatre professionals.