A comprehensive exploration of Paris through the texts and experiences of a vast and vibrant range of authors.

For centuries Paris has had a deep association with the development of literary forms and cultural ideas. This Companion shows how Paris, in its various districts, has inspired writers from Moliere to Henry James, from Victor Hugo to Jean Rhys, and how it is now responding to multicultural diversity.

A fresh and comprehensive account of the literature of France, from medieval romances to twenty-first-century experimental poetry and novels.

Charles Baudelaire's place among the great poets of the Western world is undisputed, and his influence on the development of poetry since his lifetime has been enormous. In this Companion, essays by outstanding scholars illuminate Baudelaire's writing both for the lay reader and for specialists. In addition to a survey of his life and a study of his social context, the volume includes essays on his verse and prose, analyzing the extraordinary power and effectiveness of his language and style, his exploration of intoxicants like wine and opium, and his art and literary criticism. The volume also discusses the difficulties, successes and failures of translating his poetry and his continuing power to move his readers. Featuring a guide to further reading and a chronology, this Companion provides students and scholars of Baudelaire and of nineteenth-century French and European literature with a comprehensive and stimulating overview of this extraordinary poet.

The first major collection of essays to provide a comprehensive examination of the British literature of the French Revolution.

Emile Zola is a towering literary figure of the nineteenth century. His main literary achievement was his twenty-volume novel cycle, Les Rougon-Macquart (1870–93). In this series he combines a novelist's skills with those of the investigative journalist to examine the social, sexual and moral landscape of the late nineteenth century in a way that scandalized bourgeois society. In 1898 Zola crowned his literary career with a political act, his famous open letter ('J'accuse...!') to the President of the French Republic in defence of Alfred Dreyfus. The essays in this volume offer readings of individual novels as well as analyses of Zola's originality, his representation of society, sexuality and gender, his relations with the painters of his time, his narrative art, and his role in the Dreyfus Affair. The Companion also includes a chronology, detailed summaries of all of Zola's novels, suggestions for further reading, and information about specialist resources.

The Cambridge Companion to Nabokov provides a concise introduction to the creative world of one of the twentieth century's most important writers. Fourteen individual essays cover such topics as Nabokov's storytelling techniques, his achievements as a short story writer, his evolution as a novelist, his relationship to the literary currents of his day, his world-view, and his lasting artistic legacy, particularly through Lolita, his most famous and controversial work. The volume also contains a chronology of his life and a guide to further reading.