Untranslated French works?
Dear Linguaphiles,
This may be a somewhat unusual request... I'm trying to convince my (French Major) advisor to let me change my senior project. We've been reading nothing but Molière's plays, and next semester we'll be expected to write a paper on a topic having to do with Molière.
I enjoy Molière, but this has been done SO OFTEN. And I know I'm not well-informed enough to be contributing anything new to the field. I hate feeling like I'm wasting my time.
One of the women doing Honors in the major (which I should have done, but was misinformed...) is translating a book that she had read for a previous class. I don't know what it is, but it's a collection of (autobiographical?) stories by French-speaking Algerian women, I believe. She's translating the book into English, then writing a short paper on the life of Algerian women, plus another short paper on her experience translating the book.
... I WANT TO DO THIS.
However - and here's where my real question comes in! - I have no idea where to find French books that haven't yet been translated. As far as I can tell, I have to pick something either really obscure or really, really recent. I'd like something *worthwhile* - does Camus have any unpublished works or letters? What about Sartre, Hugo, Racine, even Molière? Or is there a particularly interesting collection of letters somewhere - perhaps by one of les précieuses? - that has NOT been translated into English before? I'd like a book of between 50 and 250 pages, if possible... Those are probably the absolute limits.
Any suggestions of books, or of resources? A novel, a collection of letters, a critique, an analysis... something having to do with French history, philosophy, or culture, if it's not actual fictional literature.
Thanks so much for anything you can suggest!! I want to have some ideas before I try to convince my advisor that this would be a good alternative project for me, even being proposed this late in the year.
This may be a somewhat unusual request... I'm trying to convince my (French Major) advisor to let me change my senior project. We've been reading nothing but Molière's plays, and next semester we'll be expected to write a paper on a topic having to do with Molière.
I enjoy Molière, but this has been done SO OFTEN. And I know I'm not well-informed enough to be contributing anything new to the field. I hate feeling like I'm wasting my time.
One of the women doing Honors in the major (which I should have done, but was misinformed...) is translating a book that she had read for a previous class. I don't know what it is, but it's a collection of (autobiographical?) stories by French-speaking Algerian women, I believe. She's translating the book into English, then writing a short paper on the life of Algerian women, plus another short paper on her experience translating the book.
... I WANT TO DO THIS.
However - and here's where my real question comes in! - I have no idea where to find French books that haven't yet been translated. As far as I can tell, I have to pick something either really obscure or really, really recent. I'd like something *worthwhile* - does Camus have any unpublished works or letters? What about Sartre, Hugo, Racine, even Molière? Or is there a particularly interesting collection of letters somewhere - perhaps by one of les précieuses? - that has NOT been translated into English before? I'd like a book of between 50 and 250 pages, if possible... Those are probably the absolute limits.
Any suggestions of books, or of resources? A novel, a collection of letters, a critique, an analysis... something having to do with French history, philosophy, or culture, if it's not actual fictional literature.
Thanks so much for anything you can suggest!! I want to have some ideas before I try to convince my advisor that this would be a good alternative project for me, even being proposed this late in the year.