Contemporary French Cultural Studies

by William Kidd, Sian Reynolds

Overview

This stimulating book is an introduction to the full range of contemporary French culture. Written by a group of leading academics both within and outside France, each chapter focuses on a topic from the French cultural scene today. Starting with an overview of resources for further information (both in print and online), Contemporary French Cultural Studies discusses the varied form of French cultural expression and looks critically at what "Frenchness" itself means. The book also explores examples of cultural production ranging from sport, media and literature to theater, cinema, festivals, and music. An essential resource for students, scholars and interested readers alike, this text provides detailed material and analysis, as well as a launch-pad for further study.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780340740507
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/25/2000
Series:	A Hodder Arnold Publication Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

William Kidd is Reader in French Studies at the University of Stirling. Siân Reynolds is Professor of French Studies at the University of Stirling.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Introduction and Sources
Introduction
France @ your fingertips
/ Part 2 The Background to French Cultural Exceptionalism
How the French present is shaped by the past: the last 100 years in historical perspective
French cultural policy: the special role of the state
French education: equal or elitist?
/ Part 3 Cultural Differences and Identity Politics in France Today
Social differences: age and place
Sexual fault lines: sex and gender in cultural context
The challenge of multiculturalism: regional and religious differences in France today
French political culture: homogenous or fragmented?
/ Part 4 Frenchness Revisited: Forces for Cultural Unity
If it isn't clear it isn't French: language and identity
French public culture: spaces and places
Frenchness constructed and reconstructed
/ Part 5 French Cultural Production at the turn of the Twenty-First Century
Sport and identity in the new France
No Coca-cola please, we're French! The advertising culture in France
A night out: theatre and opera
Cinema in a nation of filmgoers
Festivals and fetes populaires
The changing French media: press barons, NRG and digital TV
From Messian to MC Solaar: music in France in the late twentieth century
Reading books in France: la culture du livre
Intellectuals in French culture: where to look today
A guide to contemporary cultural analysis: the French contribution

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

This book should prove enormously useful to undergraduate readers who are seeking to gain an overall orientation within the field of French culture. An excellent resource to the general academic reader who might wish to decipher and interpret the complex and polyphonic text of French culture.
European Journal of Communication

Both editors and contributors are to be congratulated on producing a book that works both as an undergraduate introduction and as a series of critical essays on French culture on the cusp of the twenty-first century.
Journal of European Area Studies

Editorial Reviews

This book should prove enormously useful to undergraduate readers who are seeking to gain an overall orientation within the field of French culture. An excellent resource to the general academic reader who might wish to decipher and interpret the complex and polyphonic text of French culture.
European Journal of Communication

Both editors and contributors are to be congratulated on producing a book that works both as an undergraduate introduction and as a series of critical essays on French culture on the cusp of the twenty-first century.
Journal of European Area Studies

From the Publisher