The breadth and variety of works that can be gathered together under the heading of ‘the novel in French’ is nothing short of breathtaking. Of course France is a major source for these works, but so too are Canada, Haiti, Martinique and Guadeloupe, Senegal, Cameroon and Rwanda, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco… The novel in French is a global phenomenon, inextricably connected with histories of imperialism, colonialism and their still continuing aftermath. In bringing together the contributions that make up
The Cambridge History of the Novel in French I wanted to produce a volume that reflected this exceptional diversity while at the same time exploring and illuminating the echoes, interconnections and borrowings that are discernible between authors and texts, from the late middle ages up to the twenty-first century.