For a French Connection Now

Proust, Fanon, Balzac-the best of French literature will never be passé. But the ongoing 'Pardon My French!' programme in Delhi has a curated collection of 15 modern French classics you should get to know.

- PARAMITA GHOSH

IT is perhaps hard being a ‘prophet' in your own time and country-unless you are French. James Baldwin found support for his literature and his sexuality in '60s Paris that he did not find in the US; Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel Persepolis (2000), a coming-ofage story of an Iranian girl, would not have seen the light of day in Iran; it was first published in French. Joseph Andras' Tomorrow They Won't Dare To Murder Us (2016), is a highly critical record of French icons and France's record of colonialism in Algeria, but was still awarded the country's highest literary honour, the Prix Goncourt.

France has indeed been both the crucible and the launchpad of some of the world's most radical politics and avant-garde literature but the French have a crib-when it comes to buying French literature, readers keep going back to the classics. To bring awareness of contemporary French books not yet considered modern classics outside of France and award circuits, Alliance Française de Delhi has started the 'Pardon My French!' programme.