A literary history of France

Not for the faint-hearted, but a finely detailed history of French literature up to the end of the 19th century. This covers poems, plays, and prose, together with a summary in the early part of the book of the various languages spoken through the ages in what is now France. Brief summaries of the lives of the authors involved are also given. Because of the book's content it is probably an advantage for the reader to have a working knowledge of French, as many of the poems in the text are in that language and remain untranslated.