The Project Gutenberg eBook, Landmarks in French Literature, by G. Lytton
Strachey

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Title: Landmarks in French Literature

Author: G. Lytton Strachey

Release Date: June 21, 2004 [eBook #12670]

Language: English

Character set encoding: US-ASCII

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LANDMARKS IN FRENCH LITERATURE***

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LANDMARKS IN FRENCH LITERATURE

by

LYTTON STRACHEY

London, 1912

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

I ORIGINS--THE MIDDLE AGES 7

II THE RENAISSANCE 20

III THE AGE OF TRANSITION 31

IV THE AGE OF LOUIS XIV 45

V THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 94

VI THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT 142

VII THE AGE OF CRITICISM 166

CONCLUSION 174

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF AUTHORS AND
THEIR PRINCIPAL WORKS 177

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 183

INDEX 185

TO

J.M.S.

CHAPTER I

ORIGINS--THE MIDDLE AGES

When the French nation gradually came into existence among the ruins of
the Roman civilization in Gaul, a new language was at the same time
slowly evolved. This language, in spite of the complex influences which
went to the making of the nationality of France, was of a simple origin.
With a very few exceptions, every word in the French vocabulary comes
straight from the Latin. The influence of the pre-Roman Celts is almost
imperceptible; while the number of words introduced by the Frankish
conquerors amounts to no more than a few hundreds. Thus the French
tongue presents a curious contrast to that of England. With us, the
Saxon invaders obliterated nearly every trace of the Roman occupation;
but though their language triumphed at first, it was eventually affected
in the profoundest way by Latin influences; and the result has been that
Engl