Contemporary French Cultural Studies

by Kidd, William; Reynolds, Siân

• ISBN13: 9780340740491
• ISBN10: 0340740493
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-10-12
• Publisher: Hodder Education Publishers

Summary

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.

Author Biography

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

Table of Contents

List of Contributors	viii
Acknowledgements	xi
Abbreviations	xii
PART I INTRODUCTION AND SOURCES	1	(20)
Introduction: to the reader	3	(7)
William Kidd
Sian Reynolds
France &commet; your fingertips: print and on-line resources	10	(11)
Elizabeth Ezra
Dougal Campbell
PART II THE BACKGROUND TO FRENCH CULTURAL EXCEPTIONALISM	21	(46)
How the French present is shaped by the past: the last hundred years in historical perspective	23	(15)
Sian Reynolds
French cultural policy: the special role of the state	38	(13)
Susan Collard
French education: equal or elitist?	51	(16)
Lucy Mitchell
PART III CULTURAL DIFFERENCES AND IDENTITY POLITICS IN FRANCE TODAY	67	(60)
Social difference: age and place	69	(12)
Marion Demossier
Susan Milner
Sexual faults lines: sex and gender in the cultural context	81	(14)
Lucille Cairns
The challenges of multiculturalism: regional and religious differences in France today	95	(16)
Alec G. Hargreaves
French political culture: homogeneous or fragmented?	111	(16)
Brian Jenkins
PART IV FRENCHNESS REVISITED: FORCES FOR CULTURAL UNITY	127	(36)
If it isn't clear, it isn't French: language and identity	129	(11)
James Munro
French public culture: places and spaces	140	(14)
Helen Beale
Frenchness: constructed and reconstructed	154	(9)
William Kidd
PART V FRENCH CULTURAL PRODUCTION AT THE TURN OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY	163	(137)
Sport and identity in the new France	165	(14)
Philip Dine
Advertising culture in France: no Coca-Cola please, we're French!	179	(14)
Alastair Duncan
A night at the theatre	193	(15)
Christophe Campos
Cinema in a nation of filmgoers	208	(12)
Sue Harris
Festivals and fetes populaires	220	(9)
Sue Harris
From press barons to digital TV: changing media in France	229	(15)
Jean-Claude Sergeant
From Messiaen to MC Solaar: music in France in the second half of the twentieth century	244	(13)
Mary Breatnach
Eric Sterenfeld
Reading books in France: la culture du livre	257	(13)
Bernard C. Swift
Intellectuals in French culture	270	(17)
Martyn Cornick
The French contribution to contemporary cultural analysis	287	(13)
Jeremy F. Lane
Conclusion	300	(2)
Appendix	302	(7)
Index	309