A Short History of French Literature.By Sarah kay, Terence Cave and Malcolm Bowie.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Get hold of this compact book if you are looking for lengthy but general essays introducing the history of French literature from the Middle Ages to the present. The essays are organized into three periods: Before 1470; 1470-1789; and 1789-200. Each subdivides into such topics as Courtliness and the Rise of Romance (Before 1470), Outlines of the Novel (1470-1789) and Gide and Proust (1789-2000). The contents pages lists all the subtopics. A further plus is a lengthy bibliographic essay (Suggestions for Further Reading, p. 317).