This magnificent volume provides a complete history of the literature of France from its origins to the present day, taking us beyond traditional definitions of 'literature' into the world of the best-seller and, beyond words, to graphic fiction and cinema * Presents a definitive history of the literature of France from its origins to the present day. * Incorporates coverage of Francophone writing in Europe, Canada, the West Indies and North and Sub-Saharan Africa. * Links the development of literature to the mentalities and social conditions which produced it. * Takes us beyond "literature" to study graphic fiction, cinema and the bestseller. * Maps the rise of the Intellectual, and in so doing charts a progression from literary doctrine to critical theory.