French Renaissance Literature - Other Literary Forms

Other Literary Forms

The French Renaissance was rich in a whole body of moral, literary, philological and philosophical writing. Michel de Montaigne was the first essayist of modern times (The Essays) and a remarkable writer on the human condition. Étienne Pasquier's Recherches de la France was another monumental compendium of historical, political and cultural observations.

Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme wrote biographical sketches of the men and women of the court.

Jean Bodin wrote a number of important works on political science.

Henri Estienne and his son Robert Estienne were among the most important printers in France in the 16th century, and Robert Estienne's edition of the Bible was the first to use chapter and verse divisions.

The Catholic/Huguenot and civil/political conflicts of the last half of the century—the French Wars of Religion -- generated a great deal of political, religious and satirical writing, including the Monarchomachs' libels.

The Satire Ménippée (1593/1594) written by Nicolas Rapin, Jean Passerat and Florent Chrestien, and edited/revised by Pierre Pithou was a political and satirical work in prose and verse which criticized the excesses of the Catholic League during the Wars of Religion.

Read more about this topic:  French Renaissance Literature

Famous quotes containing the words literary and/or forms:

    Criticism occupies the lowest place in the literary hierarchy: as regards form, almost always; and as regards moral value, incontestably. It comes after rhyming games and acrostics, which at least require a certain inventiveness.
    Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880)

    It is not however, adulthood itself, but parenthood that forms the glass shroud of memory. For there is an interesting quirk in the memory of women. At 30, women see their adolescence quite clearly. At 30 a woman’s adolescence remains a facet fitting into her current self.... At 40, however, memories of adolescence are blurred. Women of this age look much more to their earlier childhood for memories of themselves and of their mothers. This links up to her typical parenting phase.
    Terri Apter (20th century)