French Writers Quiz

Question: What Frenchman wrote a classic account of early 19th-century American civilization?

Answer: Alexis de Tocqueville wrote De la démocratie en Amérique (Democracy in America), a classic account of early 19th-century American civilization that was published in 1835–40.

Question: Which French writer wrote that “Catholicism is inadmissible, Protestantism is intolerable; and I feel profoundly Christian”?

Answer: In 1916 André Gide found himself unable to resolve the dilemma expressed in his statement “Catholicism is inadmissible, Protestantism is intolerable; and I feel profoundly Christian,” so he began his autobiography, Si le grain ne meurt (1926; If It Die…), an account of his life from birth to marriage that is among the great works of confessional literature.

Question: Which French writer is regarded as the chief precursor of realism in the novel?

Answer: Honoré de Balzac is regarded as a key precursor of realism in the novel, primarily as a result of his La Comédie humaine (The Human Comedy).

Question: Which of the following French writers is considered the greatest innovator of form of his post-World War II generation?

Answer: Georges Perec is the French writer generally called the greatest innovator of form of his post-World War II generation. His novel La Disparition (1969; A Void) was written entirely without using the letter e, for instance (as was its translation).

Question: Which of the following is a French poet noted for several works championing women?

Answer: Christine de Pisan was a prolific and versatile French poet and author whose diverse writings included numerous poems of courtly love, a biography of Charles V of France, and several works championing women. In all, she wrote 10 volumes of verse, including L’Epistre au dieu d’amours (1399; “Letter to the God of Loves”), in which she defended women against the satire of Jean de Meun in the Roman de la rose (The Romance of the Rose). Her prose works included Le Livre de la cité des dames (1405; The Book of the City of Ladies), in which she wrote of women known for their heroism and virtue, and Le Livre des trois vertus (1405; “Book of Three Virtues”), a sequel comprising a classification of women’s roles in medieval society and a collection of moral instructions for women in the various social spheres.

Question: Which French author wrote the Claudine novels (1900–03), only to have her husband publish them as his own work?

Answer: At age 20 and ill-prepared for both married life and the Paris scene, Colette married the writer and critic Henri Gauthier-Villars (“Willy”), 15 years her senior. Locking her in a room to encourage her to focus on the task at hand, Willy forced her to write—but published as his own work—the four Claudine novels, Claudine à l'école (1900; Claudine at School), Claudine à Paris (1901; Claudine in Paris), Claudine en ménage (1902; republished as Claudine amoureuse, translated as The Indulgent Husband), and Claudine s’en va: journal d’Annie (1903; The Innocent Wife).

Question: Which French poet abandoned his wife and infant son to travel with fellow poet Arthur Rimbaud?

Answer: Paul Verlaine abandoned his wife and infant son in July 1872 to wander with Arthur Rimbaud in northern France and Belgium and write material for his poetry collection Romances sans paroles (“Songs Without Words”).