referencebooks

Encyclopedia of Contemporary French Culture

Edited by Alex Hughes and Keith Reader

Published by Routledge, 1998.

This is an attractive hardbound book of 7" by 10", running 618 pages plus 22 pages of preferatory material.

On the back of the book they've printed a good description of it:

"The international team of contributors and consultants have provided over 700 entries offering wide-ranging coverage and crossing the traditional boundaries between disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. French culture is defined in its broadest sense and areas covered include:

• Economy
  
• Education
  
• Film
  
• Food and Wine
  
• Gender and Sexuality
  
• Intellectual life
  
• Language and Identity
  
• Literature
  
• Media
  
• Music
  
• Performing arts
  
• Politics
  
• Religion
  
• Society
  
• Visual Arts
  

Entries range from short factual items to longer essays on broad topics.

The frontmatter includes a classified contents list that breaks up the articles into the categories shown above.

For a sense of scope, depth, and orientation, the first sixteen items in the "M" sequence are as follows:

• M6
  
• Madelin, Alain
  
• Maeght Foundation
  
• maisons de la culture
  
• Malle, Louis
  
• Malraux, André
  
• Malraux act
  
• Man Ray
  
• management style
  
• Manessier, Alfred
  
• Manet, Éduardo
  
• Mano Negra
  
• manufacturing industry
  
• Marais plan
  
• Marceau, Félicien
  
• Marceau, Marcel
  
• Marceau, Sophie
  

The longest of the entries above is the one titled "manufacturing industry," running to about two thirds of a page. There are many articles in the Encyclopedia that run to a few pages.

Entries all have "see also" references, usually leading to the topical articles. Many also have one or two items for further reading. Each entry is signed by the expert responsible.

"Contemporary" in the work's title seems to mean less "what is happening now" than "post-WWII." Very little about French culture from the ten or twenty years prior to publication is included. However, the period covered is essential for understanding the present, and is within the memory of contemporary French people.

This book is good for looking up basic information about figures in or aspects of French culture, or for light, browsy reading for francophiles.