Dave Ross

All posts tagged with french

6 posts found

The Map and the Territory

The pretentiousness of the contemporary art world is just one of the targets in Michel Houellebecq’s The Map and the Territory. The protagonist, Jed Martin, is a talented painter and photographer who rises to fame in the art world, which he is largely indifferent to. He initially gains recognition for his artistic yet simple photographs of everyday objects. One day, he looks at a Michelin map and finds beauty in it. At an early exhibition of his works, he includes...

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The Count of Monte Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo (French: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel by French author Alexandre Dumas (père) completed in 1844. It is one of the author’s more popular works, along with The Three Musketeers . Like many of his novels, it was expanded from plot outlines suggested by his collaborating ghostwriter Auguste Maquet. Another important work by Dumas, written before his work with Maquet, was the short novel Georges . Georges is of interest to scholars because...

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Capital in the Twenty-First Century

Capital in the Twenty-First Century is a comprehensive book written by French economist Thomas Piketty and published in 2013. The book examines the dynamics of wealth and income inequality, exploring their causes, consequences, and potential solutions. Piketty argues that the rate of return on capital tends to be higher than the rate of economic growth. This leads to a concentration of wealth in the hands of a few. He presents extensive historical data from various countries to support this claim,...

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Voyage Around My Room

Voyage Around My Room is a whimsical and introspective travelogue written by French author Xavier de Maistre and published in 1794. The book takes a unique approach to travel literature by exploring the world within the confines of a single room. The narrator, who is under house arrest for dueling, embarks on a journey of self-discovery and imagination within the boundaries of his own room. He observes and describes the objects, furniture, and artwork in his surroundings, imbuing them with...

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Le Grand Meaulnes

Le Grand Meaulnes revolves around Augustin Meaulnes, a young man from a rural background who arrives at a boarding school in the village of Sainte-Agathe. Meaulnes befriends a fellow student named François Seurel, who also serves as the narrator of the story. One day, Meaulnes goes on an adventurous journey and stumbles upon an estate known as the Domaine de la Sablière. A grand wedding celebration is taking place. He becomes captivated by the festivities and falls in love with...

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Swann's Way

At the risk of invoking a Monty Pythonesque guffaw, here is a summary of Proust and specifically Swann’s Way . Published in 1913, Swann’s Way is the first volume of Marcel Proust’s seven-part novel, In Search of Lost Time . The volume serves as an introduction to Proust’s intricate exploration of memory, time, and the complexities of human experience. Swann’s Way begins with the narrator’s reminiscences of his childhood in the fictional town of Combray. Proust structures the narrative around...

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